Coventry Blaze scored a couple of opening period goals and those held up as just enough offence for a 2-1 win over the Flames on Spectrum ice.
A powerplay goal by Luke Ferrara at 10:17 and a follow up by Alec Marsh, the winner as it turned out, a couple of minutes later had Blaze holding a 2 goal lead at the break.
The sides traded a pair of minor penalties each in the middle set, but neither powerplay came through, including a Blaze skater advantage that carried into the 3rd.
Less than 2 minutes into that final frame, Ian McNulty finally got Flames on the board and cut the deficit to a single, but they couldn’t find the handle on another before time fully ticked away.
“We had a bit of a slow start again in the 1st period," said Paul Dixon. "Coventry got a powerplay goal to get them started, whereas we had several of our own chances with a man advantage and we were not able to convert any of them and we played too long from behind because of it.”
“I thought we were better as the night progressed and we had some of our best chances in the 3rd when we were in a position to bring it level, but we couldn’t get one. We are up again here on Saturday against Cardiff, and we will try and make more of our chances count.”
