19 Jan 2025, 17:30 | Regular season | SkyDome Arena |
Coventry Blaze | 3-2 OT | Guildford Flames |
Periods: Shots: | 1-1 (14-6) | 1-1 (12-11) | 0-0 (14-3) | 1-0 (2-2) | Total: 42-22 |
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Referees: #2 David Good, #9 Joe Sewell  |  Spectators: 1910 |
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Goals and assists
Chase Gresock scored all three goals for Coventry Blaze as they beat
Guildford Flames 3-2 in overtime to move into fifth place in the Elite
League standings.
"It feels great, I’m happy that the team ground
out the win,” said the Blaze’s hat-trick hero. “It shows a lot of
character and resilience from our team after the game in Nottingham,
that we can back home and were able to get this win. This is the most
fun time of the year, it’s great that we’re right there, and anything
can happen."
Guildford took the lead after just 22 seconds when
Jake Jacome's shot was tipped past Mat Robson in front by Matt Alvaro.
The home side did push back with some good chances themselves, drawing
Jake Kupsky into a good glove save to keep the Devils ahead. With 42
seconds left in the period, Gresock got on the end of a rebound from an
Alex Kuqali shot to tie things up.
Coventry started period two the
stronger but were unble to find another way past Kupsky. That was,
however, until the Flames took a face-off violation minor and Gresock
fired past Kupsky to put the Blaze ahead at 32:45. That lead didn't last
long though, with Brett Welychka ting things up under three minutes
later to make it all square heading into the third.
The Blaze had
two powerplay opportunities to try and win the game inside the final ten
minutes of period three, but a bounce wide or an excellent block
prevented them form beating Kupsky again.
Both teams deserved the
point they got with the game heading into overtime, and it looked as if
it might be another shootout that was needed to decide the game between
these teams. Gresock had other ideas, though, and won it with 11
seconds to go in OT to get the Blaze the extra point.