Coventry Blaze head coach Danny Stewart has warned his players to expect a different Cardiff Devils side on Saturday.
The Skydome side head to South Wales on the back of a thumping 5-1 home win in the Challenge Cup last Sunday.
And Stewart admits to feeling more optimistic about his team than he did the night before when they suffered a fourth straight loss.
He told the latest edition of the British Ice Hockey podcast: “One message I sent to the guys is we’ll see a different Cardiff team to the one we beat on Sunday. They’ll make it a lot tougher for us on the back of a disappointing weekend for them.
“We certainly have to be ready and take nothing away from our guys, we played a very good hockey game and did a lot of good things.
Coventry beat Cardiff on Sunday, but will meet them again on Saturday in the Welsh capital (PHOTO: Scott Wiggins)
“So we’ll have to do it again, maybe even better on Saturday because we know they’ll be coming.
“The guys played very well and went out and executed what we wanted to do, but at the same time, the areas of our game we needed cleaned out, we did and didn’t give too much up against a good Cardiff team.
“Our defence was much better than it’s been and in doing that, allowed to create more in the way of offence and I was pleased to get a win on the board.
“In terms of the progress we’ve made, we can’t do any more that we have. The win on Sunday left me more optimistic about this group and we have to continue in getting better.
“The past is past now. We have to look to the future.”
Coventry’s win over Cardiff was their first in five games (PHOTO: Scott Wiggins)
Stewart also spoke of the results across the Elite League that has seen one or two eyebrow raising outcomes in the early part of the season.
But he insists it’s early days as teams still feel their way into the new campaign.
He added: “I think what’s happening across is the league is what we suspected. Looking at the rosters across the league and how the team’s were building, they were maybe improving from last year.
“It’s early days and we haven’t all seen each other yet, other than some video. Teams, especially those have made a lot of changes, are still finding their identity and found out more about their group.
“I think we’ll see more of what people would call ‘upsets’, but the league’s so good now that anybody on their game can get the win.”
