Hirsch inspires Blaze victory in Welsh capital

COVENTRY Blaze had goaltender Peter Hirsch to thank after they hung on to their Elite League lead with a 5-2 victory at Cardiff Devils.

The Danish international let just two shots past him from 42 efforts while Blaze's American forward Luke Fulghum bagged his second hat-trick of the month to see the visitors home.

Max Birbraer had put the Devils in front with his 21st strike of the season before Fulghum's first two strikes turned round the match in the first period.

A goal apiece in the second period meant the match was all to play for in the final 20 minutes but Fulghum's third goal and Derek Campbell's tenth strike of the season tied up the Blaze win.

Nottingham Panthers stayed in touch with the Blaze in second after securing their fifth defeat of Sheffield Steelers this season.

The game was tied at 1-1 at the start of the final period but as Cameron Mann and David Clarke netted their 23rd strikes of the season for the Panthers, Sheffield's resistance ran dry as Nottingham emerged 5-2 winners.

Meanwhile, Belfast Giant's title aspirations are quickly disappearing as they slipped to a 3-2 defeat at Hull Stingrays.

Latvian goaltender Martins Raitums impressed on his debut for the Stingrays with 37 saves as strikes from Konstantin Kalmikov, Jeff Glowa and Pavel Gomenyuk saw the English side home.

Finally, an Edinburgh Capitals scored a 5-4 overtime victory against Newcastle Vipers after an inspired comeback in the North East.

The Vipers held a comfortable 4-2 lead with less than five minutes left on the clock but strikes from Jeff Hutchins and Dan Welch - who completed his hat-trick with the equaliser - ensured the match went to overtime.

Owen Fussey settled the game for the Scottish outfit as they secured their third overtime win of the season.