Flames rally to beat Coventry Blaze

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Flames got off to a rocky start falling into a 2-goal hole before the game was 7 minutes old, but Ian McNulty’s 2nd of the evening sparked a rally with 3 unanswered in the final stanza to bank a 4-3 win over the visiting Coventry Blaze.

Blaze used only 47 seconds to gain a lead through Janne Laakkonen and he added a 2nd at 6:46. McNulty cut the deficit before the break on a late period powerplay.

Just over 5 minutes into the 2nd, Blaze re-stored their 2-goal lead with a Luke Ferrara powerplay strike, and they carried that advantage into the final set.

At 46:22, McNulty’s 2nd brought Flames within a single. On a powerplay less than 3 minutes later Ian Watters squared it before Jake Bolton offered Flames their first lead of the night, with what turned into the winner, just 31 seconds after that.

“It was certainly not the start that a team draws on the board before the game,” admitted Paul Dixon. “You never want to give up such good quality scoring chances that early to basically spot a team a lead.”

“The only good thing is that it was so early we still had nearly the entire night ahead of us to right the ship, and with perseverance in the 3rd we were finally able to do that.”

“They are huge points in our playoff quest, but certainly we have to be a little more on top of how we start games because coming from behind like that usually doesn’t happen. It’s better to be the team dictating play and in front than the other way around, but that’s behind us now and a big win the guys can be proud of.”