Flames win in OT after Storm snatch point

Photo: John Uwins

Guildford and Manchester produced an 11-goal thriller on Sunday night, which saw the Storm come back from 5-1 down to snatch a point before going down in overtime.

The Flames took full control of proceedings with three goals scattered throughout the opening period. A Chris Gerrie throw on net was picked up by Tristan Frei and backhanded past Matt Ginn on the two-minute mark to opening the scoring. 

At 13:46 Ian McNulty shot through a screen to make it 2-0 with Ginn unsighted, and 90 seconds later the hosts hit three when Frei got the final touch on a bouncing puck around Ginn's net. 

Liam Morgan tipped a Cam Critchlow show past Kevin Lindskoug's near post with 29 seconds left in the period to get Storm on the board.

Storm's hope of battling themselves back into the game took a bitter blow with two Flames goals in 35 seconds at the start of the middle period. Ian Watters was left with too much space alone in front of the net and finished well from Jordan Cownie's feed on 22 minutes, followed by Frei completing his hat trick on a loose puck after Jamal Watson's blueline effort was blocked en route to the net. Storm Head Coach Ryan Finnerty called a timeout to rally his team, and also opened to replace Ginn, who'd seen five go past him on 19 shots, for James Downie.

Morgan completed a hat trick of his own with a goal 36 seconds into the third which brought Storm back to within two. They created the better chances through most of the period in front of Lindskoug's net, though the Flames had a couple of opportunities to put the game to bed on off-man rushes the other way.

When Jaren Vanwomer put the puck home at 50:48 the Storm were suddenly back to within one but met a wall of blocks in front of the Flames' net as they pushed for the equaliser. Finnerty had a chance to get Downie out inside the final two minutes, and Guildford should have made the game safe but Robert Lachowicz could only hit the post from inches in front of the empty cage. Storm went straight back up the other end with the puck loose Tyson Fawcett scrambled it home with one second left on the clock to force overtime.

Overtime was tense and produced its usual end-to-end rushes. Eventually, with 40 seconds remaining, Jake Bolton neatly wristed past Downie to give the Flames the two points they'll feel they should have had in regulation.

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