Cardiff Devils ended their pre-season schedule and are now focused on European Champions League hockey.
Captain Jake Morissette and his Devils were edged out 5-4 by an impressive Coventry Blaze team at the Skydome and now go into back-to-back European home fixtures.
Red Bull Salzburg are at Ice Arena Wales on Thursday followed by Swiss team SC Bern two days later.
Both fixtures look certain to be sold out as Elite League champions Devils look to improve on last season’s CHL experience when they won two of their six fixtures.
Head coach Andrew Lord is hopeful Justin Faryna, Charles Linglet and Matthew Myers, who have all been out injured, will be available to face Salzburg on Thursday.
All of them have been skating in training and will be assessed later this week.
Coventry and Cardiff were locked on 2-2 after the first period on Sunday, while Blaze led 4-3 going into the third.
D-man Ben Blood scored for the second night in a row, having netted against Blaze in a 5-2 Devils home win, and made it 4-4.
Canadian Ben Lake scored the winning goal after 47 minutes, firing his second of the game.
Devils gave back-up goalie Thomas Murdy the full 60 minutes, while their goals came from Gleason Fournier, Stephen Dixon (powerplay), Mike Hedden and Blood.
Bryce Reddick fought Coventry man of the match Kevin Morris and Devils competed hard with a new-look Blaze whose team includes 12 new signings.
“It was a good test for us this week,” said Blaze coach Danny Stewart. “Our compete was there, we battled.
“There were a lot of positive signs for us. Devils are a good team who are gearing up for the Champions League and at times they had that extra step because they are a couple of weeks ahead of us in preparation.”
British forward Luke Ferrara opened the scoring only nine seconds into the game before Fournier tied things at 1-1.
Lake was awarded a penalty shot after 11 minutes and fired past Murdy before Dixon scored on the powerplay to make it 2-2 after the first period.
Morris scored the third for Coventry on a delayed penalty before Hedden struck to tie things up again.
Jake Hansen scored to put the home team in front again and he was assisted by Matt Maurice, who joined the Blaze line-up on a two-way deal with Solihull Barons.
Blood fired past Jordan Hedley, who had replaced Miika Wiikman in the Blaze goal, and the team were level again before Lake’s winner earned Blaze the victory.
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Cardiff Devils fixtures and results list for the first three months of the campaign, including pre-season matches and Champions League group fixtures.
August
Saturday 11: Nottingham Panthers 5, Cardiff Devils 5
Sunday 12: Cardiff Devils 3, Nottingham Panthers 6 (Panthers won 11-8 on aggregate)
Saturday 18: Cardiff Devils 3, HK Poprad 2
Sunday 19: Cardiff Devils 4, HK Poprad 5
Saturday 25: Cardiff Devils 5, Coventry Blaze 2
Sunday 26: Coventry Blaze 5, Cardiff Devils 4
Thursday 30: Cardiff Devils v Red Bull Salzburg (7.30pm, Champions League)
September
Saturday 1: Cardiff Devils v SC Bern (7pm, Champions League)
Thursday 6: Red Bull Salzburg v Cardiff Devils (7.30pm, Champions League)
Saturday 8: SC Bern v Cardiff Devils (7.45pm, Champions League)
Sunday 9: Cardiff Devils v Nottingham Panthers (6pm, EL)
Sunday 16: Cardiff Devils v MK Lightning (6pm, CC group C)
Saturday 22: Cardiff Devils v Coventry Blaze (7pm, CC)
Sunday 23: Sheffield Steelers v Cardiff Devils (4pm, EL)
Wednesday 26: Nottingham Panthers v Cardiff Devils (7.30pm, EL)
Saturday 29: Guildford Flames v Cardiff Devils (6pm, CC)
Sunday 30: Cardiff Devils v Glasgow Clan (6pm, EL)
October
Wednesday 3: Dundee Stars v Cardiff Devils (7.30pm, EL)
Saturday 6: Cardiff Devils v Manchester Storm (7pm, EL)
Tuesday 9: Vaxjo Lakers v Cardiff Devils (6.30pm, Champions League)
Saturday 13: Cardiff Devils v Dundee Stars (7pm, EL)
Tuesday 16: Cardiff Devils v Vaxjo Lakers (7.30pm, Champions League)
Sunday 14: MK Lightning v Cardiff Devils (5.15pm, CC)
Saturday 20: Cardiff Devils v Sheffield Steelers (7pm, EL)
Sunday 21: Cardiff Devils v Fife Flyers (4pm, EL)
Saturday 27: Cardiff Devils v Guildford Flames (CC, 7pm)
Sunday 28: Coventry Blaze v Cardiff Devils (CC, 5.15pm)
Wednesday 31: Glasgow Clan v Cardiff Devils (EL, 7.30pm)