Devils survive late Blaze fightback

Photo: Scott Wiggins

Cardiff Devils survived a late Coventry Blaze fightback to take both points in Challenge Cup action on Wednesday night.

A goal in each period looked to have put the Devils in control at the Skydome, but a Blaze late show made a game of it in the final period. 

Sam Duggan one-timed Mark Richardson's pass past Taran Kozun with 70 seconds left in the first to open the scoring. 6:12 into period two, Josh Waller fired home from the back post on the powerplay as the Blaze's defensive zone coverage left him in too much space. Ben Davies somehow jammed the puck over the line with a little under 15 minutes to go in the third as the Devils took a 3-0 lead.

However, the Blaze hit two goals inside as many minutes to suddenly make it a one-goal game. Nathan Ripley fired home from the slot at 51:28 to get his side on the board, with Aidan Spellacy then getting them back to within one at 53:41. 15 seconds later, Brandon Alderson was given a High-Sticking minor but the Devils rode out the penalty kill.

The Blaze pulled Kozun for the extra skater with 30 seconds to go but immediately lost the puck, allowing Ryan Barrow to set up Joey Martin for the empty netter on the rush at 59:38.