LUKE Ferrara scored twice as Coventry Blaze came from behind on three separate occasions to defeat Sheffield Steelers 4-3 on the road in the Elite League on Wednesday night.
Ferrara twice drew Coventry level before Janne Kivilahti’s first Blaze goal and Ryan Penny’s effort secured victory for Danny Stewart’s side.
The hosts led through two goals from Marc-Olivier Vallerand and Matias Sointu’s strike only for Coventry to snatch the win with two goals in the final period.
Victory for the Blaze leaves them in third place in the Elite League table after five matches – three points behind leaders Sheffield with two games in-hand.
It was a former Blaze man who opened the scoring when Vallerand struck at 5.21 from a powerplay.
Then, Ferrara grabbed his first of the night at 15.42 when he fired past Steelers’ netminder Barry Brust following a behind the net pass from Kivilahti.
However, Sheffield restored their lead at 16.58 when Vallerand beat Coventry goaltender CJ Motte from another powerplay.
An incident in front of the Blaze net at 25.57 saw defenceman Dane Gibson thrown out of the game for spearing Sheffield’s Brendan Connolly.
That was followed by a scuffle along the boards which resulted in Janne Laakkonen and Jonathan Phillips being forced to sit in the penalty box for five minutes for fighting.
However, the Blaze equalised again with Ferrara’s second goal of the game at 37.11 – assisted by Dillon Eichstadt on the powerplay.
But once again Sheffield would quickly restore their lead when Sointu tucked away a rebound at 38.22 – with the Blaze heading into the final period 3-2 behind.
Stewart’s side restored parity when Kivilahti shot through traffic at 40.26 to record his first goal for Coventry.
The game-winning goal came at 43.17 as Penny won a battle in front of the Sheffield net and managed to poke home to give the Blaze the lead for the first time in the match.
The visitors defended well for the remaining minutes to secure the two points as Motte made 30 saves in a valuable win.
Coventry are next in action against Cardiff Devils in the Challenge Cup on Sunday, October 31 with the face-off at 5:30pm at the Skydome Arena.
