Flames all-but extinguish Storm's Cup progression hopes

Photo: John Uwins

Guildford Flames all but ended Manchester Storm’s slim hopes of reaching the next stage of the Challenge Cup with a 6-3 win at the Spectrum on Saturday night.

Guildford opened the scoring quickly, just 23 seconds in, when Josh Waller cut into the circle and fired past Evan Weninger. Nick Welsh levelled for Storm off Brady Gilmour’s feed at 3:09 - but only after the post had denied the Flames a second moments earlier.

Sam Talbot’s shot from the point put the hosts back in front at 14:34, and he added another just over three minutes later, tapping home a rebound at 17:58.

Ethan Strang extended the lead to 4-1 four minutes and 27 seconds into the second period, before Welsh struck again for Storm two minutes later.

Early in the third, Waller’s pass into the slot found Mathieu Gosselin, who deflected the puck past Drew DeRidder at 43:03 to restore Guildford’s three-goal advantage.

Kaleb Ergang pulled one back for Storm with just under seven minutes remaining, but with Weninger pulled for the extra skater, Jack Jacome found the empty net with two seconds left to seal the 6-3 victory for the Flames.