At a packed Sky Dome tonight for this must win game for the Blaze, Sheffield took the lead on 2.15 with a short handed Matt Hubbauer goal.
Coventry hit back with four goals of their own. Brian Lee, assisted by Jon Weaver and Derek Campbell, levelled the match on 3.32 with a powerplay goal. Sixty seconds later, Luke Fulghum assisted by Dan Carlson hit the second.
The third goal came courtesy of Brad Cruickshank hitting the net on 11.56 assisted by Greg Chambers and before the end of the first period, the Blaze hit a fourth thanks to Tom Watkins, assisted by Dan Carlson on 18.51.
There were no goals in the second period that saw Scott Basiuk get a match ban for abusing an official.
However, two minutes and 23 seconds in to the third, Robert Dowd pulled once back with a powerplay goal.
With Belfast having gone top of the Elite League following a 4-0 victory, the need for Blaze to get two points from this match became even more imperative.
Dan Carlson hit a fifth for Coventry on 50.06, assisted by Calder and Cowley but Sheffield came back to provide a grandstand finish. Jon Phillips netted on 55.28 and with less than two minutes to play, Joe Talbot made it 4-5 when he scored with a powerplay goal.
Coventry Blaze have three league games remaining and must win all of them. They face Edinburgh at the Sky Dome on Thursday night before a trip to Scotland on Saturday. Then on Sunday, it is a winner takes all game against Belfast Giants at the Sky Dome.
Tickets are going quickly for Sunday's game and the Blaze have announced that only single seats are available for Blaze fans.
The Blaze have have taken the decision that from 10am on Monday morning, they will release the whole of Block 7 for general sale - they had anticipated these seats being filled by group bookings and will review the seat availability at the end of Tuesday and may re-allocate any unsold seats in Block 7 back to group bookings.
Standing tickets are also available.