Basingstoke Bison 2 , Coventry Blaze 3 (after overtime)

COVENTRY Blaze gained revenge for a defeat earlier in the season with an overtime win at the Planet Ice Silver Dome Arena on Saturday night.

The Wella Bison started the game in the same mood as last week's magnificent 7-2 win over Belfast and Steve Moria was denied after 16 seconds. Then somehow in the same move a blue line shot from Kim Vahanen was saved by Jody Lehman.

The home side kept up the pressure and opened the scoring at 5:01 as Matt Reid's lay back saw Martin Filip shot come straight off the pads of Lehman to Dave Geris to score.

The Herd had the puck in the net again at 7:40 from Joe Ciccarello, but the goal was disallowed as the net had come off its moorings.

The visitors, minus forwards Steve Chartrand and Shaun Johnson, moved defenceman Steve Gallace up front and to make up for the ninth forward, one player had to double shift.

It took until they were given a two-man advantage later in the period that they got going and from there they never really looked back, even if the Bison killed the penalties.

The second session opened with the Blaze having the better chances as Hilton Ruggles, Tom Watkins and Russell Cowley all forced Curtis Cruickshank into saves.

The home side were given an opportunity to kill off the contest when Michael Tasker and Hilton Ruggles both went to the sin bin seven seconds apart at 22:43.

However, the visitors killed off that powerplay and continued to create chances from Joel Poirier, Steve Gallace and Michael Tasker.

Once again Andy Carson decided to give one side a two-man advantage this time for 101 seconds as Bison Phil Roy was joined by Blake Sorensen who received a 2+10 call for checking to the head.

The visitors again failed to convert, but Poirier did managed to hit a post at 37:25.

The opening minute of the final period saw Ciccarello produce a great rush only to be denied by Lehman.

The opening penalties of the final period saw the Bison given a two-man advantage again and this time they made it pay as Ciccarello netted a Moria cross at 43:27.

After that, Coventry had a lot of pressure but didn't really get anywhere until they scored a goal out of nothing.

Poirier won a face-off on the right-hand circle and on the turn fired home at 49:59.

Coventry then equalised, making the most of the final Bison penalty as Blaze man-of-the-match Ashley Tait forced the puck home under Cruickshank at the second attempt.

Two minutes later, Coventry knew it was going to be their night as Blaze's Mathias Soderstrom's clearance hit Lehman on the back of the legs and went across the goal line, hitting the far post before being cleared.

The final penalty of the night arrived at 58:28 with Tom Watkins departing on a 2+10 call, but the Bison were unable to make the powerplay count - even if they were camped in the visitors' end.

The home side had all the chances in overtime with Bison man-of-the-match Phil Roy somehow being denied by Lehman and from there the visitors broke out and Ruggles dispatched their only shot of the extra period nicely into the top corner.

Bison player/coach Moria said: "We started well tonight but I just don't know what happened. We lacked the hunger and desire.

"It was always going to be difficult to match the performance of last week which was our best of the season."

Scoring; Bison: Geris, Ciccarello 1+0, Filip, Moria, Slater 0+1. Blaze: Ruggles, Poirier, Tait 1+0, Carpenter, Gallace 0+1. Shots on Goal: Cruickshank 49, Lehman 40. Penalties: Bison 20, Blaze 22.