Flames come back from three down

Photo: John Uwins

Guildford Flames came back from three goals down to secure an overtime win against Manchester Storm on Sunday evening.

Manchester made a strong start and opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Tyler Hinam finished off a neat passing move involving Gary Haden and J.D. Dudek. Loren Ulett added a second at 11:50, sending the puck over the glove of Justin Fazio after a turnover in the neutral zone.

“We got off to a good start but just slowly let Guildford back into the game,” admitted Hinam. “Not getting the result, after the start we had, is disappointing for us."

The Storm extended their lead on the powerplay at 18:45 when Harrison Caines set up Hinam for his second of the night to make it 3-0 after the opening period.

“I think we stayed calm. Our coach came in after the first period and just told us we had 40 minutes still left to find our game,” explained Flames forward Cole Ully. “Once we got one, it rolled from there. We could have crumbled three down, but it didn’t feel like anyone was too worried.”

Guildford began their comeback midway through the second period when Lewis Hook pounced on a rebound from a Tyler Busch shot to get the Flames on the board. Busch then brought the Flames to within one at 43:13 before Josh Nixon tied the game with 9:23 remaining.

Both sides had chances to win it late in regulation and in overtime on the powerplay but could not find a decisive goal.

Cole Ully beat Evan Weninger through a screen with 1:48 played in overtime to give the home side the extra point.

“Our kill was really big to start that overtime, and Manchester didn’t really get any good looks,” continued Ully. “We had some huge shot blocks in there which made the difference. It felt good to get that one at the end.”