Ian McNulty had a pair of goals after singles by Levi Cable and Robert Lachowicz to help Flames with a 4-2 road win at Coventry Blaze that pulls them withing 2 points of the league leading Belfast Giants at the top of the league table.
Less than 6 minutes into the contest Peyton Frantti put Blaze in a lead, and they held the edge through the end of the frame.
Early in the 2nd, Cable levelled for the visitors. A Nathanael Halbert reply near the period’s midway mark put the hosts back in front, but Robert Lachowicz at 34:18 squared it again before the period was through.
Less than 3 minutes into the 3rd, McNulty nudged Spectrum’s men into their first lead of the evening. The advantage remained on the board inside the last 2 minutes when Blaze were forced to pull their netminder in favour of an extra attacker, but the strategy didn’t pay out as McNulty capped the evening with an empty netter 38 seconds from time to seal up the win and inch a little closer to the league lead.
Eamon McAdam stopped 31 of 33 shots, while Miklós Rajna went 21 for 24.
“That was a huge win obviously to keep us in with a shout,” said Paul Dixon.
“We struggled in the first period so thankfully we were able to recover and be at a much higher standard in the 2nd and 3rd and we were able to hang in until we could get some offence.”
“Obviously we are all thrilled with this outcome but by tomorrow we need to move on and start getting ready for a double set against Dundee.”
