British forward Ross Venus scored the overtime winner as Coventry Blaze beat Nottingham Panthers 4-3 in the Elite Series.
GB international Mike Hammond picked up a ninth assist of the tournament on Tristan Keck’s goal (16:32) as the Blaze led 1-0 at the first intermission.
Brett Perlini helped set-up Christophe Boivin for Nottingham’s equaliser (38:58), but David Clements and Hammond combined to send Keck on a breakaway to score his ninth goal of the season only 51 seconds later (39:49).
Luke Ferrara scored on the powerplay (49:22) to make it 3-1 before the Panthers reduced the deficit with Austin Cangelosi’s five-on-three powerplay goal (52:12) and equalised from Mark Matheson’s blueline shot (55:55).
But Venus had the final say when he netted at 61:33 to give Blaze the extra point.
Four teams – Coventry Blaze, Manchester Storm, Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers – are competing in the 2021 Elite Series at the National Ice Centre.
The event has been organised under the government’s Elite Sport Guidance, with regular testing and a full covid-19 protocol in place.
The tournament is forming part of Great Britain’s preparations for the upcoming World Championship in Latvia.
All games are available to watch on a live stream – click here for more details and to purchase the webcasts.
Photo credit: Karl Denham.