Blaze come from behind to beat Devils

Photo: Scott Wiggins

Coventry Blaze made it an impressive three-point opening weekend with a tight home win over Cardiff Devils on Sunday evening.

Coming off a hard-fought overtime point in Sheffield the night before, Coventry took the lead inside ten minutes with Ian McNulty reacting fastest to a rebound off a Kim Tallberg shot for a powerplay goal at 9:11. The Devils tied the game on a 2-on-1 rush six minutes later, Trevor Cox faking for the pass but slipping the puck under Taran Kozun's glove hand.

Level after 20 minutes, the Devils needed just 84 seconds to take the lead in period two - Cole Ully the scorer with a one-time finish off Jamie Arniel's feed. 

Coventry turned the game with a pair of goals in a little under two minutes. Tyler Kirkup tied things up at 34:14 after being set free in the Devils zone by McNulty, and with 36:11 played McNulty deflected Tallberg's pass beyond Callum Booth to put the hosts back ahead.

That turned out to to be the game winner, with Brady Norrish adding the insurance marker at 59:24 on the empty net.