Blaze a point off top four

Photo: James Assinder

A David Clements goal with five minutes to play handed Coventry Blaze a win in Cardiff, putting them just a point behind the Devils in fourth. It was the Devils' fifth defeat in a row.

"As a line, we played really well tonight.," began Nick Setz who scored two goals on the night. "The first two goals had some great passes and then tap-ins. We were similar to our team in that we had a slow start, but we got stronger as we got into the game."

Period one saw a strong performance from Cardiff, as the home team took an early advantage in just seven seconds withCole Sanford putting home a puck that rebounded off of the pads of Blaze's Mat Robson. To add to the excitement, Devils fans didn't have to wait long for the second goal of the night as Zach O’Brien found the back of the net at the 03:47 mark, following an assist from Kohen Olifschefski and Cole Sanford, with an excellent shot into the smallest of gaps over Robson's shoulder.

Coventry entered the second period with 1:17 left on a powerplay after Brad Schoonbaert picked himself up a hooking minor with 43 seconds left of the first period. This allowed the visitors to find their first goal of the night after Jackson Cressey was able to tap in a rebounded from a Brandon Alderson slapshot 54 seconds into the period.

To add to the penalty list, Terrance Amorosa found himself a tripping minor gifting the Devils a powerplay, where the Devils were able to find their third goal of the night - Tyler Bush shot over the shoulder of Mat Robson with one second left on the advantage at 27:08.

With only 4:35 left in the period, Seitz managed to get the puck past Ben Bowns after a huge pass from Alessio Luciani, allowing the duo to find Coventry’s second goal which left the deficit at just one going into the final period.

"Cardiff outplayed us for the first two periods and they deserved to be ahead," added Seitz. "We talked about it in the break and made it a point to work as hard as we can, chip away and not worry about the score. We got rewarded which was nice."

With under eight minutes remaining, the Blaze were level. Terrance Amorosa rode the blue line and shot on Bowns, and the rebound fell to a diving Seitz to put home with 51:11 on the clock. Under three minutes later, the game was completely turned on its head when David Clements' one-timer off a Luciani feed put the visitors ahead with exactly five minutes to play. Ben Bowns had made a huge windmill save to deny Mike Regush prior to the goal to momentarily keep the game level.

The Devils pulled Bowns with 54 seconds to play, but just 15 seconds later were undone by Chase Gresock firing into the empty net.

"We have Sheffield tomorrow and it would be huge to come out of a weekend against Cardiff and them with four points" concluded Seitz.