Blaze win fifth straight

Photo: Scott Wiggins

Coventry Blaze won their fifth straight game and picked up their 16th point from nine games since the turn of the year with a 7-2 win over Fife Flyers at the Skydome.

“It was great!” began Blaze’s Grant Mismash. “We had a day off on Saturday after playing well in Glasgow, Fife started fast but we had composure and stuck with it, Mat Robson made a lot of good saves, and we just didn’t lose any confidence.”

The opening goal came on the first power play of the night. Mike Pelech was penalised for hooking less than two minutes in, and David Booth made the advantage count 35 seconds later, firing high past Mat Robson to give the Flyers the lead.

Coventry responded midway through the period when David Clements fired home from the blue line at 12:34 to level the game. The Blaze then moved ahead at 16:29 as Jordan Power carried the puck into the zone and beat Shane Owen from a tight angle.

“I thought we had a decent start, but in the second it got away from us,” said Flyers Keaton Jameson. “We need to be better defensively, I didn’t think we helped Shane Owen out an awful lot, and gave up too many odd-man rushes. We would have liked a better result, it was unfortunate.”

Fife pulled level again with 2:41 left in the period, Keaton Jameson finishing from close range after a pass from Logan Neilson. However, Coventry regained the lead late in the frame, William Boysen scoring on the power play with just 14 seconds remaining to send the Blaze into the break 3-2 ahead.

The Blaze extended their advantage early in the second period. Jere Vertanen fired home his trademark one-timer during four-on-four play to make it 4-2, before Matthew Gleason jammed home a loose puck at 28:45. Just over two minutes later, Gleason turned provider as William Boysen tipped in his pass for Coventry’s sixth of the night.

“We’ve been through some games earlier in the year where we lost confidence going down, but we’ve learned a lot from our mistakes,” continued Mismash. “Those hard times have helped us, we know that we’re a good team and can come back on anyone."

Tensions flared in front of Robson’s net late in the period, resulting in penalties to both sides, but Coventry had the final say before the break. With 1:17 remaining, Grant Mismash tipped home after a feed from Adam Robbins to make it 7-2.

“We weren’t disciplined, and their powerplay was good,” added Jameson. “We knew that going into the game and that came back to bite us. We also didn’t score on our powerplay opportunities, so they got the better of us on special teams.

There was no further scoring in the third period, with Fife giving Andrew Little 20 minutes in goal after being called up for the weekend trip, as the Blaze closed out another strong home performance.

With a point form every game since the new year, the Blaze are in form. “Everyone’s clicking right now, our powerplay is doing well. There’s a lot that goes into it and we’re enjoying where we are at the moment” concluded Mismash.