Flames in driving seat against Storm

Photo: Mark Ferris

Guildford Flames head back to the Spectrum with a four-goal aggregate lead after an excellent 5-1 road win over Manchester Storm in Altrincham in the first leg of their playoff Quarter-Final.

Guildford came flying out of the traps and put themselves to ahead inside nine minutes in a building they hadn’t won at on three visits this season. With 5:28 played, Ryan Hughes uses a bounce off the defenseman to reset and fire high into Evan Weninger's net and put the Flames ahead with 5:28 played. Just over three minutes later, things got better for the visitors when Matt Tugnutt's throw on net deflect into his own net off Matt Murphy's skate to put the Storm down by two with only 8:48 played.

Whatever Matt Ginn said in the Storm locker room at the end of the opening period did not have the desired effect in the second. The Storm turned the puck over as they broke out, and Steven McParland’s laser flew into the roof of Weninger’s net to make it 3-0 at 21:59. Ginn promptly called his timeout. On the powerplay, Bradley Lalonde shot through traffic to make it 4-0 with 3:10 left in the middle frame.

2:08 into period three, Ryan Tait was the beneficiary of some fortunate bounces in front of the Storm net to put the Flames five ahead. Mitchell Martin got Storm on the board converting his own rebound with 12:09 to play, but that was as good as it got for the hosts on a disappointing night.