Blaze run out of gas
DANNY Stewart felt a busy schedule caught up with Genting Casino Coventry Blaze after they suffered two defeats in 24 hours to reigning Elite League Champions Belfast Giants.
Former Blaze forward Ben Lake put in a man-of-the-match performance to help the Giants to a 4-1 victory at the SSE Arena on Saturday.
Then Belfast skated away from the Skydome Arena on Sunday night with a 6-3 win.
“It was a tough weekend. I don’t think we played bad hockey, but just not enough for periods of time,” said Blaze head coach Stewart.
“We made a few too many mistakes and looked tired. We’ve played six games in 11 days against teams who play heavy hockey and it caught up with us.”
On Sunday, the first period brought seven goals but Giants edged ahead 4-3.
Giants defenceman Kevin Raine (2:57) opened the scoring but Blaze man-of-the-match David Broll, assisted by Matt Pohlkamp levelled on 6:12 and the two combined again just two minutes later to put the hosts 2-1 ahead.
Belfast responded to go 3-2 ahead through Paul Swindlehurst and Raine, only for Pohlkamp’s cross-ice pass to bounce off a Belfast players skate and into the net (14:02), but Lake (18:52) gave the visitors the lead once more.
Both teams clamped down defensively in the second period, each killing numerous minor penalties without conceding.
The only powerplay goal of the night came when Patrick Mullen (47:02) fired Giants 5-3 in front, a goal which appeared to drain the belief of a tired-looking Blaze team.
At 49.03 Jordan Smotherman claimed the final goal of the game to complete a four-point weekend over their opponents.
On Saturday, the first period was a physical affair but after killing two early penalties, Belfast took a 1-0 lead at 13:28 through the energetic Lake.
Liam Morgan made it 2-0 on 27:44 before Blaze got on the board at 29.27 with their man-of-the-match Matt Pohlkamp re-directing a Dillon Eichstadt shot into the net for 2-1.
Despite Coventry having much of the play after their goal it was Belfast who scored again through Jordan Smotherman (36.17) and they made it 4-1 when Lake fed Giants’ top scorer Curtis Hamilton.
“I thought we were OK in patches. Credit to Belfast, they were tough to penetrate,” said Stewart.
The Blaze are back in action with two home games this weekend, against Guildford Flames in the Challenge Cup (7pm) and then against Glasgow Clan in the Elite League on Sunday (5.30pm).