... and double delight for Devils
Champions show they mean business with impressive back-to-back Elite League wins
CARDIFF DEVILS ............................. 4 NOTTINGHAM PANTHERS ............ 1
CARDIFF Devils underlined just how serious they are about retaining their Elite League title by storming to a second win in two days.
Player-coach Andrew Lord and his players have started the 2017-18 league season with back-to-back wins against big rivals Sheffield Steelers away and Nottingham Panthers in Cardiff Bay.
The game finished with a fight between Mathieu Gagnon and Cardiff’s Faryna - and what a fight it was.
Gagnon had the edge, but Faryna is a tough competitor in those situations and ensured the Nottingham man felt the pain as well.
After the fight, Robert Farmer was yelling at the Devils bench, but the game settled down again and the clock ticked out to conclude a decisive Devils victory.
Defenceman Drew Paris was again missing from the Devils line-up because of a minor injury with Lord stepping into the team.
Joey Haddad, man of the match Justin Faryna, Bryce Reddick and Paul Crowder were the Devils scorers against Panthers at Ice Arena Wales.
After a scoreless opening period the Devils started the second shorthanded, but killed off the penalty and scored after the next face-off.
Mark Richardson took a pass from Sean Bentivoglio and then danced in from the blueline, around two Panthers players, before picking out Haddad with a perfect cross ice pass. The Canadian forward hammered the puck into an open goal to make it 1-0 at 21 minutes 53 seconds.
Faryna made it 2-0 at 36-45, tapping in a rebound off the pad from netminder Mike Garnett, with Paul Crowder and Jake Morissette picking up assists.
With less than a minute left in the period, Matthew Myers found Reddick with time to spare and he lasered a wrist shot through the legs of Garnett to give the Devils a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes.
Panthers pulled a goal back in the third when Robert Farmer tipped in an Evan Mosey shot from the blueline that somehow found its way past goalie Ben Bowns to spoil his shutout attempt, but that was all they could muster for the evening.
Crowder completed the scoring when he netted at 51-41 with Morissette getting the lone assist.
Crowder picked up the home man of the match after scoring a goal and adding an assist and Ben Bowns made 27 saves for the win.
Match stats:
Scorers: Devils: Joey Haddad 1+1, Justin Faryna 1+0, Bryce Reddick 1+0, Paul Crowder 1+1, Jake Morissette 0+2, Mark Richardson 0+1, Sean Bentivoglio 0+1, Matthew Myers 0+1. Panthers: Robert Farmer 1+0, Evan Mosey 0+1, Dan Spang 0+1. Period scores (Devils first): 0-0; 3-0 (3-0); 1–1 (4-1). Shots on goal: Devils (on Garnett) 5+10+7=22; Panthers 14+7+7=28. Penalties in minutes: Devils 9+2+9=20; Panthers 5+4+7=16. Stars of the game: Devils, Justin Faryna; Panthers, Evan Mosey. Other results, Sunday:
Elite League: Coventry Blaze 4, Braehead Clan 1; Guildford Flames 1, Sheffield Steelers 7; Manchester Storm 6, MK Lightning 2.
Challenge Cup: Dundee Stars 7, Fife Flyers 5; Edinburgh Capitals 5, Belfast Giants 6.
Next Devils fixtures: Saturday, September 23 v MK Lightning (away, Challenge Cup, 7pm); Sunday, September 24 v Manchester Storm (home, Ice Arena Wales, 6pm, League).
SHEFFIELD STEELERS .................... 3 CARDIFF DEVILS ............................. 4 AFTER SUDDEN DEATH OT
SHEFFIELD Steelers were cursing their luck after Elite League champions Cardiff Devils collected a first match win at the House of Steel.
The teams were locked at 3-3 during overtime when Cardiff’s Justin Faryna fired a shot which flew over the Steelers net and hit the glass surrounds at Motorpoint Arena.
When the puck rebounded it struck goaltender Ervins Mustukovs on the back and went into the Sheffield net.
That was the goal which decided a tense, fiercely contested match.
Devils fans celebrated, their team had opened their title defence with a win.
Cardiff’s fixture in Sheffield, against one of their most intense rivals, was always going to be tough. After all, Devils clinched the League title with a win at Sheffield last season – and the Steelers were fired up for revenge.
During the build-up to Devils’ visit there was talk in South Yorkshire about how Cardiff had taken Sheffield’s title – and they want it back.
Coach Paul Thompson and his players were intent on laying down an early marker in the opening League match, but things simply didn’t go to plan.
Devils led 3-1 at one stage and, wile Sheffield fought back, it was playercoach Andrew Lord and his team who went home with the win.
Lord was in the Devils team with defenceman Drew Paris ruled out by a minor injury.
It was an incredible game on Saturday.
Devils opened the scoring five minutes 39 seconds into the first period when Sean Bentivoglio picked up a rebound after Joey Haddad tried to jam the puck past Mustukovs to give the Devils a 1-0 lead on the powerplay.
Steelers were level at 1-1 after 11-52 when John Armstrong scored his first goal of the night with Scott Aarssen and Mark Matheson drawing assists.
The middle period saw the Devils score twice in 36 seconds to take a 3-1 lead. First Joey Martin broke free after being set up by linemates Matt Pope and Patrick Asselin and he fired over Mustukovs to make it 2-1 at 23-46.
Then, right off the face-off, Devils turned a broken play into another goal with Pope getting in on the Steelers net and completely fooling Mustukovs to double the Devils lead at 24-22.
Steelers pulled one back in the middle period, this time on the powerplay when Colton Fretter scored at 30-44 to pull the score back to 3-2 with assists to Ben O’Connor and Tim Wallace.
Devils carried their 3-2 lead into the final period and had a chance to put the game away after Tim Wallace was given a double minor penalty for highsticking at 43-01, giving Devils four straight minutes with a man-advantage.
Bryce Reddick was called for hooking Steelers’ captain Jonathan Phillips on a breakaway during the Devils powerplay and Phillips was awarded a penalty shot at 25-35.
Goalie Ben Bowns came up with a big save to keep the Devils ahead 3-2, but the Steelers penalty killers were on form and managed to kill the rest of the four minutes off, which gave them a huge boost.
The momentum continued to swing in favour of the Steelers when Matthew Myers was called for tripping at 48-44 and the home team powerplay went to work, scoring the goal to make it 3-3 at 49-05 when Armstrong walked out from the corner and roofed the puck over Bowns on the short side to make it 3-3.
Both teams traded chances with the Steelers outshooting the Devils in the final period but the period ran down and the game remained tied and went into overtime.
The 3v3 overtime period was filled with chances at both ends of the ice. Bowns was there with two huge saves to keep the Devils in the game.
The winner came off the stick of Faryna and Devils fans who had made the trip erupted into celebrations.
Match stats:
Scorers: Steelers: John Armstrong 2+0, Colton Fretter 1+0, Scott Aarssen 0+1, Mark Matheson 0+1, Ben O’Connor 0+2, Tim Wallace 0+2.
Devils: Sean Bentivoglio 1+0, Joey Martin 1+1, Matt Pope 1+1, Justin Faryna 1+0, Joey Haddad 0+1, Patrick Asselin 0+2. Period scores (Steelers first): 1-1; 1-2 (2-3); 1-0 (3-3);0-1 (3-4).
Shots on goal: Steelers (on Bowns) 6+13+7+2=28; Devils (on Mustukovs) 9+8+6+1=24. Powerplays: Steelers 2/3; Devils 1/5. Penalties in minutes: Steelers 4+0+6=10; Devils 0+4+4=6 Attendance: 5,286 Referee: Stefan Hogarth Stars of the game: Steelers, John Armstrong; Devils, Andrew Hotham.