ELITE LEAGUE ICE HOCKEY:

Play-Off Quarter Finals - second leg

Sheffield Steelers 2 Coventry Blaze 4 (After Overtime)

(Coventry win 6-5 on aggregate)

Blaze upset the form books with the shock result of the quarter finals, overcoming a 3-2 1st leg deficit to win by that same score in regulation and then knock Steelers out in overtime thanks to skipper Shea Guthrie’s hat trick strike.

Ice Sheffield certainly seems not to be Steelers favourite Play-Off venue as it has proved their downfall for a second season in a row, after Hull Stingrays shocked them there last year.

As for Blaze, Coach Paul Thompson’s hopes of leaving the club on a high remain intact and a semi-final against Belfast Giants awaits them next Saturday.

The opening period of the 2nd leg belonged to Blaze and to Guthrie. It was the skipper who fired them ahead at 6.27 on a delayed penalty call and when he added his second at 10.03 on the powerplay his side were ahead in the tie.

Blaze held that position until 30.13 when Steelers finally got on the board through Rod Sarich and with that boost they scored again 69 seconds later with Tylor Michel on target to make it 2-2 on the night and Steelers ahead again by one on aggregate.

Into period three and Blaze edged in front once again when Dustin Cameron shot past John DeCaro at 46.50. Literally all to play for after that but neither team could force a tie winner in regulation, leaving overtime to settle it.

Steelers Drew Fata was binned for interference only 45 seconds into the extra period and this game Blaze the powerplay opportunity which they took with Guthrie sending the away support into raptures by scoring at 61.49 to book his sides place in the finals weekend. Steelers own frustrations at that point saw a match penalty handed out to their bench, ending a miserable night for them as they missed out on finals weekend for the second year running.

Cardiff Devils 7 Braehead Clan 2

(Cardiff win 12-9 on aggregate)

Devils kept up their incredible record of never having missed a Play-Off finals weekend by overturning Clan’s two-goal 1st leg lead in some style to book their place in their 10th successive Play-Off Semi-Final.

The crucial goal was perhaps Devils fifth scored by Jesse Gimblett with only 11 seconds left in the second period as Clan had just levelled the tie on aggregate just over a minute earlier, with the momentum shift never one the visitors could recover from.

There was little doubt Clan had expected a quick start by their hosts but it was still too much for the visitors to cope with as Devils shot out to a 2-0 lead inside six minutes. Chris Blight on the powerplay opened at 4.25 and then at 5.13 Chris Jones made it two. Clan did manage to regroup after that but after the opening period the tie was level.

Only 1.16 into period two and Jones scored his second to edge Devils ahead in the tie for the first time and then at 32.37 player/coach Gerad Adams extended their lead. Clan then had their best spell of the match, scoring twice through skipper Ash Goldie at 36.00 and 38.31 to pull them back level on aggregate but that late Gimblett goal at 39.47 stopped their comeback in an instant.

Max Birbraer added a sixth for Devils at 46.30 to see his side two ahead in the tie once more and the icing on the cake was provided by Gimblett when he scored a seventh Devils goal at 54.26 to se the home celebrations start early.

Edinburgh Capitals 3 Belfast Giants 4

(Belfast win 7-4 on aggregate)

Giants overcame what could have been a tricky second leg in Scotland’s capital by securing their last four place comfortably in the end.

Only when the home side came within one goal on aggregate when Brent Patry scored in the opening period was there any real stress for Doug Christiansen’s men but a couple of quick second period goals calmed the visiting nerves and Giants never looked back after that.

That opening period saw Capitals strive manfully to try and claw back the two-goal 1st leg deficit and their efforts paid off at 16.03 when Patry scored on a shorthanded play to half the visitor’s aggregate advantage.

If Giants were rattled they didn’t show it, coming out strong in the second session to score through Noah Clarke at 22.09 and Kevin Saurette at 23.33 to take charge of the tie once more. Capitals did give themselves some hope when Marcis Zembergs scored a second shorthanded strike for his side at 37.07 but at the second break Giants still held a two-goal lead in the tie.

Period three saw Colin Shields fire the visitors back in front on the night at 43.01, with this goal effectively ending Capitals chances. Michal Dobron did pull one back on the powerplay at 54.58 but too little too late as the scoring was completed when Saurette shot into the empty net with 33 seconds of regulation time remaining to give his side the win on the night and in the tie.

Nottingham Panthers 3 Fife Flyers 0

(Nottingham win 5-4 on aggregate)

Panthers treble hopes are still on track as they squeezed into the Play-Off Semi-Finals by the narrowest margin after Flyers took the league champions all the way.

Goaltender Craig Kowalski picked up an EIHL leading eighth personal shutout of the season. Posting 25 saves as Flyers efforts came up just short over the two-legged tie.

After the remaining 1.08 carried over from the 1st leg in Kirkcaldy, called early because of broken plexi, was played out without incident, Panthers scored early in the 2nd leg with David Ling on target at 7.46. Flyers were giving as good as they were getting however but Panthers were sharper in front of goal and at 16.32 Eric Werner on the powerplay levelled the tie on aggregate.

Period two was scoreless but controversial with Flyers having a goal waved off at one point, leaving the tie on a knife edge going into period three.

What proved to be the tie winning goal was scored by Panthers’ young GB star Robert Lachowicz at 44.15 but Flyers made a huge effort to get back into the game after that, outshooting their hosts by 10 to 5 in the period and missing out on four powerplay opportunities.

Panthers held on despite Flyers pulling goaltender Bryan Pitton late on and now must be favourites to win the Play-Off title once again.