By Luke McGinnis
Sebastian Bengtsson opened the scoring for the Stars early, getting on the board at 02:18. Strong work from Keaton Jameson along the boards allowed him to fire a pass towards the net, where the Super Swede was waiting to deflect it past Evan Fitzpatrick.
Sam Ruffin equalised late in the period, picking up a pass from Jack Hopkins off the rush to beat Vladislav Pestov five-hole at 17:10.
Ruffin scored his second of the night at 30:13 to give the Blaze their first lead, picking up a backdoor pass from Hopkins and firing it past Pestov.
Tanner Kaspick made it 1-3 less than two minutes later, batting the puck out of the air and into the Stars’ net at 31:54.
Márkó Csollák added a fourth goal at 53:22 with a one-timer from the left circle, firing through traffic and into the Stars’ net.
Tensions began to rise late, with Evan Brand throwing a hit on Matthew Gleason before the pair became involved in an altercation behind the Stars’ net. Brand eventually dropped the gloves and received a five-minute major for fighting, which ended his night early.
Coventry defenceman Andrew Nielsen was also assessed a match penalty for being the third man into the altercation.
Powell Connor received a boarding penalty less than a minute later, giving the Blaze a late 5-on-3 power play. Brett Perlini converted at 58:14 to secure a 5-1 victory for his side.
