Giants too hot for Blaze

Photo: Scott Wiggins

Belfast Giants made it a four-point weekend on the road by following up their overtime win in Cardiff over the Devils with a 6-1 win over Coventry Blaze.

Zach Heinz hit a post two minutes into the opening period as the Blaze had the game's best chance of the early stages, but Belfast grew into the game and kept Mat Robinson busy for most of the first 20 minutes.

Bobo Carpenter opened the scoring 2:34 into period two, finding the top corner of Robson's net in close. Less than a minute later, Ciaran Long beat the Blaze goalie high to double the lead. The Blaze responded with a solid eight-minute push that could, and should, have seen them back in the game - only for Tom McCollum to pull off some important saves. His team paid him back for keeping them ahead with a third at 33:45 off the stick of Karl Boudrais. 

After a couple of slips in their own zone by the Giants, the Blaze worked the puck to Jack Hopkins to fire into a gaping net and pull the score back to 1-3 with just over two minutes to go in the second.

That was as good as it got for the home side, however. Captain Mark Cooper put the Giants back ahead at 48:02, and only 54 seconds later Gabe Bast put the visitors 5-1 ahead. Scott Conway rounded off their scoring inside the final two minutes for an impressive 6-1 win.