Flames respond with home win

Photo: Olly Birth

Guildford Flames avenged their 7-4 defeat in Manchester on Boxing Day with a 6-4 victory over the Storm in front of a sold-out Guildford Spectrum.

The Flames needed captain Brett Ferguson on defense to plug gaps with only four recognised defensemen healthy for the game. "Fergie is a natural! He’s a utility player for us there," said Charlie Dodero. "Every team goes through injuries during the same, it’s the nature of the game, but you have to do the best with what you have. Everyone battled hard tonight, it took all 17 guys and Eamon in net to get us over the line."

Manchester started the period the stronger and deserved to take an early lead- with everyone watching a board battle in the corner, no one picked up Chase Harrison in the slot who beat Eamon McAdam off a feed from Craig Martin with 3:35 played.

The Storm outshot their hosts 18-8 in the opening period, but found themselves behind at the break thanks to two goals in under as many minutes. Daniel Catenacci got the final touch in a goal-mouth scramble to slide the puck under Evan Weninger at 14:51, while Charlie Curti wrapped-around the Storm goalie at 16:42 to put the Flames ahead.

The goal-fest continued in the second period. Guildford controlled the opening phases and were rewarded with three goals in just over five minutes. Ethan Strang fired from the point to make it 3-1 on the powerplay at 22L18, before a Charlie Dodero one-timer off Catenacci's pass make it 4-1 at 24:04. Ryan Tait cut in from the wing and was given too much space in front to beat Weninger at 25:22 and put the Flames 5-1 ahead.

This time it was Storm’s turn to mount a fightback. Ryan Hughes started things at 32:19, while a neat play involving Stephen Johnson and Jake Durflinger saw the latter fire into an empty cage with McAdam stranded at 34:11 to make it a two-goal game through 40 minutes.

A broken play set up the Flames to add a sixth 5:45 into period two, with Lewis Hook feeding Matt Alvaro in front for an excellent one-time finish to give the Flames a three-goal cushion again.

Manchester weren’t done though and pulled themselves back to within two off an Alexis D’Aoust slapshot with just under six minutes to go. With 2:02 remaining, Weninger, was pulled and Storm spent practically the remainder of the game in the Flames’ zone. Big shots from the point were all stopped by McAdam as the home side held out for two points.

The Flames ended the game with two powerplay goals after struggling on special teams in Manchester. "It was something we talked about after the last game," added Dodero. "We haven't had any practise sessions with the schedule as it is, but it was something we went over and everyone was dialled in tonight."