Rajna gets third straight win with Blaze

Photo: John Uwins

Miklós Rajna made 29 saves as he earned his third win in as many starts for Coventry Blaze with a 3-2 road victory against league-title-chasing Guildford Flames.

The Blaze had beaten Belfast and Sheffield prior to arriving in Guildford, and took another top-four scalp with a hard-working performance against the Flames. Marly Quince opened the scoring with the first period's only goal 16 seconds before the buzzer after John Curran was left all alone to pick his pass out.

Guildford levelled in period two with a Brett Ferguson shot from distance that found the corner of Rajna's net, but 4:58 into period two the Flames turned the puck over in their own zone and could only watch on as Mitch Cook punished them by putting the Blaze back ahead. A thunderous Nathanael Halbert shot flew past a screened Taz Burman to make it 3-5 on the powerplay with 10:32 to play.

The home side pushed hard for s way back into the game but saw powerplay chances go begging. Bradley Lalonde finally converted with the extra man at 58:11 which gave the Flames hope of a late equaliser, but they failed to seriously trouble Rajna again in the closing stages and it was the visitors who took another impressive road win.