Coventry Blaze 3, Mobilx Newcastle Vipers 4

Jan 28 2008 The Journal

CENTRE Shaun Johnson was the match-winner as the Vipers claimed victory for the second time at the Skydome this season and achieve a four-point weekend.

Johnson’s decisive intervention 30 seconds after Adam Calder had the league champions and table toppers back on level terms at 49 minutes.

The 34-year-old Johnson, who will retire soon, also netted the Vipers third goal as they beat the Basingstoke Bison 4-1 away on Saturday night.

The Vipers quickly established a two-goal lead against the Blaze, who had been embarrassed in a 6-2 away loss to the Nottingham Panthers the previous night.

Former Vipers netminder and the league’s top-rated shot-stopper, Trevor Koenig, was beaten for the first time on seven minutes by Todd Jackson. Just under four minutes later the Vipers players and travelling fans were celebrating again after Koenig failed to stop a Dean Holland effort.

The Vipers were a man short when the home side narrowed the goal gap on 14 minutes, Barrie Moore shooting home the powerplay marker on 14 minutes. Calder, the league’s leading point-scorer, then stunned Vipers with a short-handed goal five minutes into the second period to make it 2-2.

Vipers captain David Longstaff then sent the puck in off Koenig’s back to put the Vipers ahead again with the final period less than a minute old.

Two quick goals in as many middle-period minutes put the Vipers in command of Saturday’s game against the Bison. At 20 minutes the score was 1-1, with Greg Wood’s ninth-minute goal being cancelled out a mere 24 seconds later by Jeff Hutchins who had driven to the net before forcing the puck in. The goal marked Hutchins’ return after a long injury lay-off.

The quick acceleration into a 3-1 position was brought about by a five-on-three powerplay goal struck by Longstaff, which was followed by a close-range poacher’s effort from Johnson.

With a minute remaining of the match, the Bison gambled by withdrawing netminder Curtis Cruickshank. But the ploy backfired when Colin Shields made it 4-1 by shooting in the unguarded goal with 10 seconds of play remaining.

The Vipers man of the match was netminder Ryan MacDonald, who saved 49 shots in the game to keep the Bison’s score to one.

SCORERS: Last night – Blaze: Calder 2+0, Moore 1+1, Carlson, Martin and Stewart 0+1; Vipers: Longstaff 1+1, Holland, Jackson and Johnson 1+0, B Campbell and Storey 0+1.

Saturday – Bison: Wood 1+0, Campbell and Stewart 0+1. Vipers: Hutchins 1+2, Longstaff 1+1, Johnston and Shields 1+0, Storey 0+3, Jackson 0+1.