Four-goal comeback puts Blaze into Semi-Finals!
Photo: William Cherry
Coventry Blaze fought back from 4-0 down on the night to beat Belfast Giants and qualify for their first Challenge Cup Semi-Final in 2014/15 with a 6-5 aggregate win in front of 4,438 fans at the SSE Arena.
Kim Tallberg almost had the Blaze ahead inside the opening minute when a fortunate bounce saw the puck roll to him at Tyler Beskorowany's far post, but the Coventry forward saw the puck roll wide off his stick. In what was a tight opening period, the Giants began to start creating longer spelling of time in the Blaze's zone. They were rewarded with the opening goal at 16:26 - a smart play from Cameron Pound saw him eventually shoot from the blue line with Ara Nazarian tipping the puck past Taran Kozun to put the Giants ahead.
Greg Printz could easily have doubled the lead at the start of period two but opted for an extra move which gave the Blaze time to collapse around Kozun. In the middle of period two the Blaze were becoming trapped in their zone for long spells at a time, leading to Danny Stewart calling a timeout to give instructions to his team. However, 26 seconds later the visitors found them two down off an excellent shot from Henrik Eriksson, wiring the puck into Kozun's top corner. Coventry were restricted to the occasional rush up the ice but didn't trouble Beskorowany through the opening 40 minutes.
Preston whipped a shot into Kozun's top corner on the blocker side 72 seconds into period three to put the Giants three up and leave the Blaze with an awful lot to do in the remaining 18 minutes. If that goal hadn't deflated the Blaze, Eriksson's one-timer in the slot from a Travis Brown pass at 43:42 certainly did and looked to have all-but ended the game. Ian McNulty threw the puck to the net from behind Beskorowany and, after a series of bounces, Ian McNulty was able to put the loose puck home to get Coventry on the board with 14 minutes to go. A David Clements shot then deflected off JD Dudek to bring the Blaze back to within two with just under nine minutes to play, after which the Giants called their time-out. Things took another twist when, with 8:19 left on the clock, Alessio Luciani got on a rebound from a blocked Danny Kristo shot to make it a one-goal game. With all the momentum, the Blaze scored a deserved equaliser off a David Clements slapshot to level the tie. Just as the final two minutes of the game were announced, Daniel Tedesco saw his shot come back off the goal frame in close.
Overtime saw chances at both ends but without a goal - JD Dudek possibly with the best chance although both teams had opportunities on the rush.
In the shootout, Taran Kozun stopped all five shots he faced to backstop the Blaze into the Semi-Finals - Dudek was the scorer in Round 3 for the goal that made the difference.
