Tristan Frei had 3 goals and the Flames put the home fans through the wringer by coughing up a 4 goal lead that made overtime necessary, but in the end Jake Bolton in his return to the line-up capped off a 6-5 win over Manchester Storm.
Exactly 2 minutes in, Flames stepped in front when Frei found himself behind all defenders with just enough space to tuck the puck over Matt Gin. They doubled the difference at 13:46 through Ian McNulty and about a minute and a half later Frei’s 2nd of the contest had them holding a 3 goal edge. Manchester got one back with an in close re-direct 29 seconds from period time to be within a pair at the break.
At 22:00 Flames found a goal through Ian Watters and just 35 seconds later Frei completed his Hat Trick when he made it a 5-1 count. Storm erased one of those late in the period with Morgan’s 2nd, and the 5-2 Flames lead was on the clock to start the 3rd.
The ice was still wet when Storm made it a 2 goal difference with Morgan’s hat trick strike. They closed the space further just over halfway through the 3rd thanks to Jared Vanwormer’s powerplay conversion and a literal last second Tyson Fawcett buzzer beater forced tiebreakers, but Bolton’s winner at 64:20 slipped the extra table point to the Flames side of the ledger.
“There is a saying is sports that when it comes to wins they don’t ask how, they just ask how many,” mused Flames Head Coach Paul Dixon.
“Especially with what happened to us Saturday in Dundee you have to go away and be happy with a win. Having said that, being in a position of control; a 4 goal lead with about 22 minutes or so of playing time left, you like to think you can avoid the stress of the way we ended up having to secure this one.”
“It doesn’t take a lot of deep thought to work out that we have to be sharper and more responsible with the puck at certain times, but we are going to celebrate collecting a couple of points and then take to a full week of training with a plan to hopefully pick up on some of the things we know we can clean up.”
