Flames pulled level after losing the handle on a 2 goal lead, but ultimately a late Manchester decider helped Storm deliver a 6-5 road win over Spectrum’s men.
Less than 5 minutes into the opening frame, Levi Cable bagged his first goal of the league campaign when he was good on a powerplay for a Flames lead. Brett Ferguson doubled the difference at 16:18, but just 38 seconds later, Storm’s Tyson Fawcett pulled the visitors within a single where they stood to close the set.
Daniel Tedesco re-stored a Flames 2 goal lead at 26:32, but Anthony DeLuca’s powerplay strike in the 31st minute had them a goal of the pace again. Kyle Locke recorded the Flames 4th of the night at 32:50, but again Storm made sure the break would arrive just a goal away thanks to Scott Simmonds who made it 4-3 at 34:41.
For the first time since the game began, Storm pulled even when they bagged a goal just 59 seconds into the 3rd through Cameron Critchlow and Deluca’s 2nd on the powerplay in the 46th minute put Storm in front. The lead was relatively short-lived because Tedesco’s 2nd of the evening, also on a powerplay, pulled Spectrum’s men back to even terms at 49:04. Unfortunately, DeLuca’s hat trick 56:53 won the night for the visiting side with time winding down without a Flames reply.
Taz Burman stopped 24 of 30 shots and Hayden Lavigne turned away 33 38.
“It’s pretty frustrating to have had more than one two goal lead on the night and to have squandered the opportunity to convert that to a win,” explained Paul Dixon.
“Manchester played an excellent game and we were better than we were the night before at least, but we made some glaring mistakes that Storm turned right into goals and we just couldn’t get quite far enough ahead to squeeze out a win and make up for those.”
“We have some training time here to re-set ourselves a bit and try to refresh ourselves on in a more solid team defensive game when we don’t have possession.”
“We have seen a lot of top notch, consistently solid play all season long so we are not going to panic here. We have work to do, and we are going to do that this week to be as ready as we can to put in good efforts against Devils Saturday and Sunday.”
