THE SMILE returned to the face of Blaze head coach Marc LeFebvre after his side ended a miserable run of four straight defeats by beating Elite League champions Belfast Giants 5-1.
Blaze produced an outstanding display to end their poor run of form at the Skydome on Sunday night.
The home side’s powerplay finally clicked as they converted three times with the man advantage to bounce back to winning ways in style.
Kevin Phillips had put Giants ahead after just 61 seconds but four unanswered goals by Ben Arnt (2), Ryan O’Marra and Rory Rawlyk put Blaze in charge by the end of the first period.
And after a scoreless second period, Derek Lee rounded off the scoring in the final period to cap off a superb evening for Blaze who had lost 3-1 at Nottingham Panthers the previous evening.
“I am a little happier than I have been for the past few weeks,” said LeFebvre.
“Their goal came from a broken play but we responded well and came back strong. The powerplay also got going which was pleasing.
“But the guys battled hard for the whole weekend. We played for each other in Nottingham but didn’t capitalise – on Sunday we did.”
Blaze now sit fifth in 16 points ahead of this weekend’s double header against Braehead Clan in the league.
Le Febvre added: “We found our identity again and we now need to keep it going. We can’t be satisfied with just one win, we need to put a run together.
“We will enjoy and get back to work this week to prepare for a double-header with Braehead.”
