Devils edge Blaze in frantic encounter

Photos: Scott Wiggins

Cardiff kept themselves just a point behind Sheffield at the top with a hard-fought win in Coventry.

Mike McNamee needed just 62 seconds to open the scoring at the Skydome as his wraparound attempt squirmed through CJ Motte to give the Devils the lead. By 4:50 the forward had then doubled both his and his team's tally with a one-timer from the slot to put the visitors in control. Evan Bloodoff tapped in from Charles Corcoran's feed to bring the Blaze back into things just over four and a half minutes from the first intermission.

The Blaze were looking more dangerous and deservedly equalised at 34:48 with a rocket from Luke Ferrara to whom the puck broke kindly on a Blaze powerplay - the only goal of period two.

Coventry then completed the turnaround through Charles Corcoran at 49:59, whose shot Ben Bowns got a piece of but not enough to keep it out of the net. Cardiff were however level just shy of two minutes later with a powerplay effort from Gleason Fournier at the point going through traffic and past Motte.

The game calmed down towards the end of regulation as both teams looked to secure a point, but in overtime it was the Devils who would take the extra one. Blair Riley fired passed Mott just 77 seconds into the bonus period to earn Cardiff an important win at the top of the table.

Coventry have still only lost one game in regulation this calendar year.

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