Overworked Blaze are shot down in Flames
THREE goals in the third period were good enough for Guildford Flames to beat the Genting Casino Coventry Blaze at the Spectrum.
Coventry travelled for Sunday’s clash without Danick Paquette, who was suspended for three games following a hit from behind penalty the night before against Edinburgh.
They were also missing Dorian Peca – a long-term injury absentee.
Meanwhile, Guildford had Chris Carrozzi start in net with former Blaze goalie Brian Stewart sat in the stands. Blaze, cheered on by a healthy following, arguably had the better of the early exchanges, Carrozzi standing strong to keep the scores level after 20 minutes. Against the run of play, ex-Coventry player Ben Davies opened the scoring for Guildford (22.36).
The game was tied just after the half-way mark – Ryan Dingle showing good speed and finding Marco Vallerand for 1-1 (30.46).
The effort was the Canadian’s 33rd strike of the Elite League season taking him back to the top of the leading goalscorer chart.
With three unanswered goals, the third period belonged to the Flames.
Brett Ferguson made it 2-1 (41.38) before it was 3-1 through Jesse Craige (48.01).
Just over a minute later the game was dead as Rhett Rachinski beat Kevin Nasituk for 4-1 (49.02).
The Blaze goalie later denied Davies a second on a penalty-shot but there was to be no response at the other end as the Flames held out for a 4-1 victory.
Head coach Danny Stewart said: “I thought we played a solid road game.
“Our PK was immense and better than it’s been all year.
“That said however we were overworked, and I felt we looked tired at the end.
“We pick ourselves up and move on.
“We had chances to break the game open and failed to finish and that’s the fine line this time of year.”
I thought we played a solid road game. We had chances to break the game open and failed to finish and that’s the fine line.