Challenge Cup: Hosts Coventry Blaze edge Belfast Giants in quarter-final first leg
- Published
Watch: Coventry Blaze edge Belfast Giants in Challenge Cup
Coventry Blaze will take a one-goal advantage into January's second leg of the Challenge Cup quarter-final after securing a 3-2 home win over the Belfast Giants.
The visitors thought they had forced a late equaliser but the officials were unconvinced.
There were two goals from Evan Bloodoff and a score from Nathaneal Halbert for the home side, while a brace from JJ Piccinich kept the tie very much alive for the Giants with the return home leg to come.
The hosts broke the deadlock in the 17th minute of the first period at the Skydome Arena, taking advantage of a power play opportunity after the Giants' Scott Conway was called for tripping.
Canadian forward Bloodoff scored his fourth goal in the Challenge Cup this season, tipping the puck past Tyler Beskorowany into the Belfast net.
The Giants then scored on a power play themselves in the second period, Piccinich firing high into the top corner of the net past CJ Motte in the Blaze goal.
But the Giants forward then sat out two minutes for hooking and Coventry regained the lead as Halbert's shot through a crowd of players found the target. Less than a minute later, Bloodoff made it 3-1, reacting quickest to a rebound opportunity.
The second period also saw Belfast's Ben Lake ejected from the game after colliding into Mathew Thompson with his knee, leaving the Coventry forward in some pain and the Giant taking no further part in the contest.
Piccinich was in the right place at the right time to score a potentially crucial second goal from close range in the eighth minute of the final period.
The Giants were then convinced they had scored an equaliser, jamming the puck over the line during a melee on Motte's goal but the officials saw it differently and so Coventry will take a one-goal advantage into the second leg at the SSE Arena on 12 January.
Both sides return to Elite League action on Saturday, with Coventry away to table-topping Sheffield Steelers, while the Giants host the Fife Flyers.