Blaze cup gap on Flames with regulation win

Photo: Aimee Hollingsworth

Coventry Blaze fought back from two down to beat Guildford Flames in regulation, cutting the gap between the teams down to just a point.

Blaze goalie Taran Kozun took the game's first penalty for shooting the puck out of bounds, and the Flames punished their hosts on the resulting man-advantage - Peter Crinella with the finish after a touch off his skate to settle the puck at the edge of the slot. By 9:26 the Flames went two ahead through Lewis Hook to put themselves into a good position. With 4:21 left in the period, Kim Tallberg forced the puck just over the goal line, the goal given despite Flames' protests that it hadn't crossed the line.

The Blaze tied the game after Steven McParland was called for Goalie Interference going through Kozun. Just eight seconds into the resulting powerplay, the returning Johnny Curran tied things up with 26:18 played. Coventry could have gone ahead but for the puck being somewhere under Burman and not over the line, while the Flames couldn't take advantage of a late powerplay to go back into the lead.

The Flames spent long periods of play in the Blaze's zone in the final period, but were undone by a strange play the other way. Blake Thompson and Kim Tallberg combined to somehow work the puck over the line around Burman and put the Blaze ahead for the first time in the game at 48:46. 

That goal was enough to give the Blaze their 19th win of the season, but only seventh in regulation.