Flames cut gap on Storm
Photo: Mark Ferris
Guildford Flames made the race for fifth place a whole lot more interesting with a 5-1 win over fifth-placed Manchester Storm on Friday night in Altrincham.
"It was a really intense game," began Flames' Taz Burman, who started in net. "Both teams are trying to ramp up for the playoffs and bring that extra level of intensity. With the rink being so small, there’s a lot of contact all over the ice. We knew they were going to play hard, especially in their own building, so we had to match that.
"It was a fun game with a real playoff feel, and we’re really happy with how we competed."
A fast first five minutes that saw both teams create chances fizzled out into a stalemate for the remainder of the period.
Guildford’s best opportunity came from a dump-in attempt to keep the play onside, which landed on the stick of a Flames forward who couldn’t poke it past a sprawling Drew DeRidder. Storm’s best chance came on a powerplay near the end of the frame, with a tipped point shot going just wide. The opening period ended scoreless.
Guildford took the lead in an extremely feisty second period that saw both teams put their bodies on the line, with multiple fights in what felt like a playoff-like twenty minutes. After crashing the net, Tyler Preziuso forced the puck home in the crease through the five-hole of DeRidder to make it 1-0 to the visitors. The defensive highlight of the period was a stretching pad save by the Guildford netminder to deny Storm a backdoor tap-in.
It all happened in the third. Travis Brown put the Flames two ahead just 27 seconds in before adding his second to make it three some eight minutes later. Joe Nardi pulled one back for Storm with 7:40 to play, but an empty-netter from Ethan Strang wrapped it up for the Flames. Mathieu Gosselin then added a fifth 80 seconds from the end.
"We’re just trying to play our best hockey heading into the playoffs," added Burman. "I think we’ve been playing pretty well over the last few weeks, and tonight was another good step. We’ve got to carry that into tomorrow. We want to be rolling by the time the playoffs come around because our goal is to win the title, and we need to be at our best when we get there."
