Dudek hat trick wins it for OT-specialists Blaze
Photo: Scott Wiggins
Coventry Blaze picked up their twelfth overtime win of the season thanks to a JD Dudek hat trick, after Glasgow Clan had tied the game late to earn themselves a point.
An enjoyable opening period of hockey at the Skydome saw the teams level at one each after 20 minutes of action. Kevin Lindskoug was the start of the show early with a point-blank kick save, and a flash of the glove, keeping the Blaze out. The Clan went ahead at 15:48 with Reece Kelly's shot taking a huge deflection and flying past a helpless Taran Kozun. Coventry levelled 55 seconds before the first buzzer on a delayed penalty with Alexander Kuqali jumping into the play to put home Ian McNulty's feed.
Clan lead again 93 seconds into period two when Gary Haden forced the puck over the line on a loose puck in front of Kozun, but again the Blaze fought back. It was a moment of major from JD Dudek, taking the puck out of the air and then deke-ing a defenseman before calmly slotting past Lindskoug to tie the game at 30:14. On a Cody Sol Interference minor, the Blaze saw a shot cleared off the line and another bounce back off the iron as period two ended all square.
The Blaze took the lead for the first time on the a little over five minutes into period three. Mitch Cook picked up the puck off a turnover in Clan's zone, threw the puck on the net, and it took a deflection off Dudek in front of Lindskoug to wrong-foot the Clan goalie and float into the net at 45:58. With nine minutes to go, McNulty opted to shoot on a 2-on-1 but Lindskoug made the save to keep Clan in the game. Clan through everything at Kozun's net in the closing stages and were eventually rewarded - new signing Stephen Desrocher scoring on his debut in purple with a slapshot with only 46 seconds remaining.
For the fifth time this season, these sides went beyond 60 minutes. Sol was given a minor for taking too long on a line change when told otherwise. That came back to bite his team when Dudek fired home his hat trick goal to win it for the hosts 2:45 into the bonus period.
