LUKE Ferrara’s brace helped Coventry Blaze put an end to their six-game losing streak away to Dundee Stars on Sunday night.
The 5-3 win, in which Charles Corcoran, Evan Bloodoff and Dillon Lawrence also made their mark, came as a relief for head coach Danny Stewart – who saw his side rise to eighth in the Elite Ice Hockey League.
It was Ferrara who registered the opening goal of the game after seven minutes and five seconds, finishing off during a five-on-three attack for his 13th goal of the league campaign.
Corcoran made it two at 24.35 after flashing a shot past Alex LeClerc to heap further pressure on his former side, while Bloodoff notched a third on 26.52 from a Johnny Curran pass.
The Stars reduced the deficit before the second period was out when Drydn Dow (37.20) drove a shot through a crowd of bodies and into the net, though any hope of a comeback was doused when Ferrara (44.56) swept home his second of the night.
Coventry were in dreamland and cruising towards a morale-boosting victory following Lawrence’s intervention at 51.38 for his third of the season.
It rendered two late goals from Matt Marquardt (54.04 and 59.46) as mere consolations for the hosts, as Coventry’s tenth success of the season was confirmed.
The result was a big improvement on a 6-3 defeat to Nottingham Panthers at the Skydome Arena on Saturday night.
Ferrara (4.30) initially got the hosts off to a flyer before Brett Bulmer (6.56), Julian Talbot (12.10) and Ollie Betteridge (12.55) struck three goals without reply for the visitors.
Andrew Johnston promptly ensured a response to narrow the deficit to one at 14.55, but a fourth for the Panthers on 21.19 – provided by Dylan Malmquist – furthered the gap between the two sides.
A minute later, Nottingham had a fifth through Robert Lachowicz (22.21), before Bloodoff (31.08) pulled a goal back to make it 5-3.
But despite Coventry’s endeavours, they were unable to drag themselves back into the game and were condemned by Bulmer’s second of the game at 59.19 to close the scoring.
Next up is a trip to Manchester Storm on Saturday (7pm), before Blaze and the Stars go head-to-head once more at the Skydome on Sunday (5.30pm).
