Blaze get first road win of the season

Photo: Mark Ferris

Coventry Blaze logged their first road win of the new season with a shootout win over Manchester Storm in Altrincham on Friday night.

In a game where both teams led, the Blaze took the lead when Brandon Alderdson rocketed home a Jakob Stridsberg slapshot with 7:28 played. Craig Martin converted a rebound from a Jake Durflinger attempt to tie the game at 14:45, but Chase Gresock had the Blaze back ahead with 64 seconds left in the opening period.

Durflinger tied the game just past the midway point of period two when he put home a Noah Carroll feed to the far post of Mat Robson's net. 

With the teams heading into the third period all square, Durflinger picked up the puck behind Robson's net and wrapped-around on the Blaze goalie to put Storm in front with 10:44 to go. That lead lasted less than 90 seconds, however, with Jackson Cressey beating Evan Weninger from an angle to tie the game up at 50:37.

The Blaze could have won the game with 58 seconds to play but were unable to convert a penalty show, and so the game headed into overtime. 

OT itself was hectic, with no whistle during the entire five minutes. That also meant that the majority of the extra period was played 4-on-4 after the visitors killed off an over-lapping minor 18 seconds in. 

Eventually the extra point was decided in a shootout. With the scores tied after four rounds, Robson pulled off an incredible save to deny Joe Morrow, while Kim Tallberg netted at the other end to secure the Blaze the win.