League leaders, Coventry Blaze’s run of 13 straight wins was brought to an end as Peterborough Pirates made it seven consecutive home victories in overtime.

For Coventry, Steve Chartrand was both hero and villain, topping the scoring with 2+1 before getting thrown out for abusing the referee at the end of the third period.

In a physical and hard hitting game, Jesse Hammill had the only goal of the opening period, after 3:09m and it was not until the 26th minute that Blaze responded, through Mats Samuelsson.

A short-handed goal for Darren Cotton, who had briefly signed for Coventry over the summer, was followed by a goal by brother Jon just after the midway mark to make it 3-1 to the home side.

Three goals in a spell of 2:03m then took the score to 4-3 to Pirates at the second break as Kelham and Chartrand scored either side of a Todd Markus goal.

Chartrand set up a thrilling finale as he converted a powerplay in the 52nd minute, as Blaze out-shot their hosts by 15 to 6 in the final period.

He was then thrown out for ill-chosen words directed at the referee before an overtime period which lasted 3:01m before Markus tapped in the game winning goal.

Peterborough’s injured captain Dwayne Newman, sidelined with a fractured cheek bone, said:

"It was a hard fought, physical contest.

"Both teams played hard and no-one really deserved to lose. It was a huge victory for our side."

MATCH FACTS

PIRATES:
Markus 2+0; D Cotton 1+3; J Cotton 1+0; Hammill 1+0; McEwen 0+2; L Buckman 0+1; Morgan 0+1; Pallister 0+1. Net - Raitanen 42/4

BLAZE:
Chartrand 2+1; Kelham 1+0; Samuelsson 1+0; Ruggles 0+3; Chapman 0+1; Johnson 0+1; Soderstrom 0+1; Tasker 0+1. Net - Sjodin 30/5

PERIOD SCORES: 1-0 / 3-3 / 0-1 / 1-0

PENALTY MINUTES: 8-30

SHOTS ON GOAL: 30-42

REFEREE: Simon Kirkham