Blaze steeled for title charge after epic wins
THE Genting Casino Coventry Blaze moved to within two points of Elite League leaders Sheffield Steelers after their second consecutive four-point weekend.
Having chalked up a stunning 5-3 win at the Steelers on Saturday, a double from man-of-the-match Luke Ferrara helped the Blaze defeat Nottingham Panthers 4-3 on Sunday at the Skydome.
It was far from straightforward as Nottingham took a deserved lead on the powerplay through Adam Deutsch at 4.18.
The Blaze, having been constantly thwarted by Great Britain international Jackson Whistle, needed a bit of magic, and it came on 35.43 when Johnny Curran’s sublime pass from behind the net was fired home by top goal-scorer Evan Bloodoff.
Panthers again went ahead at 39.11 when their man-of-the-match Sam Herr’s well-executed pass was finished by Ollie Betteridge.
The Blaze redeemed themselves on the same powerplay with Andrew Johnson making it 2-2 with just seven seconds left of the middle period, Curran again being awarded with the helper.
Ferrara (43.49) continued his good scoring form to put the home side ahead with a quick shot assisted by
Justin Hache but Brett Bulmer equalised at 3-3 at 45.45.
Following a ‘too many men’ call on the Panthers, the eventual game-winning goal came again from Ferrara, whose re-direction from a Dillon Eichstadt shot found the back of the net at 48.12.
On Saturday, the Blaze shrugged off the absence of captain Drew Schiestel and forward Dillon Lawrence to sink leaders Sheffield on their own rink.
The game began with a welldeserved tribute to Sheffield captain Jonathan Phillips who became the first player to appear in 1,000 Elite League competition games.
The hosts had the perfect start, netting first through Robert Dowd (2.26) but man-of-the-match Bloodoff fired home the equaliser and Charles Corcoran (11.19) beat Tomas Duba 2-1, both goals coming on the powerplay.
Dowd tied things again at 18.30 but Coventry took hold of the game in the third period.
Matt Pohlkamp scored his first competitive goal for the club (41.46) and Bloodoff registered his league levelling best eighth of the campaign (42.59) to put them 4-2 ahead.
Though Lucas Sandstrom (51.50) cut the lead, Chris Pohlkamp made it 5-3 on 59.58 after Duba had been pulled for the extra skater.
The Blaze are back in action on Wednesday when they head to the Cardiff Devils in the Challenge Cup.