Coventry Blaze vs Glasgow Clan

The Premier Sports sponsored Glasgow Clan lost their second road game of the weekend with a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Coventry Blaze at the Skydome.

Brett Neumann generated an early chance for the Clan with a pass thrown into the slot to the tape of Tristin Langan who poked a first-time shot at net, but Mat Robson stood tall to it.

Matthew Gleason then fired a shot from left wing which Lucas Brine didn’t catch cleanly, allowing Artem Bozuverya to pick up the loose puck and take to the net, but Brine managed to get to his line and cut him off in time.

Elijah Barriga then rifled a low shot from range which Brine kicked back into the slot to Connor Russel who’s immediate rebound attempt hit the cage of Brine’s mask and stayed out.

Jordan Power pulled off a great stretch pass later in the period to feed Buzoverya in on a breakaway and the Ukranian dispatched his third EIHL goal with a lovely shift to slip a backhand over the line.

Coventry almost had two goals in 10 seconds as Grayson Constable slammed a shot from the blue line after winning the faceoff following Buzoverya’s opener which Brine did stop but didn’t hold on to as it trickled towards the line and had to be scooped away by Langan.

Alessio Luciani tried a wraparound near the end of the opening frame but it was poked away by Brine and straight into the path of Jack Hopkins who didn’t waste the opportunity and doubled the Blaze’s lead with a neat finish.

Darien Kielb was frustratingly denied in the final minute of the period when he tried to force multiple rebounds past Robson but couldn’t find a route through before Brady Risk arrived and fired a backhand at net which was blockered away.

In the second period, Glasgow got the first powerplay of the game with Grant Mismash sitting for two for slashing and they proved efficient, despite having statistically the worst powerplay in the league as Hugo Roy swept the puck round Robson to halve the deficit for the Clan.

Coventry quickly got back into a comfortable lead though with Mismash releasing a shot straight from an offensive zone faceoff win and it threaded the needle through traffic and sailed high over Brine.

Constable then bagged a rebound to put the Blaze ahead by three in the third period and end the Clan’s quest for a late comeback with Chris McKay being assessed a five-minute penalty for elbowing with 19 seconds left.