Double defeat makes it a dismal weekend for Devils

THE Cardiff Devils suffered a 7-4 defeat to the Panthers in Nottingham on Sunday night, despite leading 3-2 going into the final period.

The Devils scored the only goal of the first period when Matt Pope and Sean Bentivoglio set up Gleason Fournier at the 8:45 mark of the game.

The middle period saw the Panthers battle back and take the lead through goals from Mark Derlago at 21:40 then Yann Sauve at 28:43.

But the Devils came straight back with two goals of their own.

Matt Pope tied the game at 2-2, with Gleason Fournier getting the lone assist on the goal at 31:08, then Andrew Hotham took a pass from Tyson Strachan and put the Devils ahead at 34:50 to give the Devils a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes.

The third period belonged to the Panthers, who once again scored early into the period, this time from Mathieu Gagnon who tied the game less than two minutes into the period.

The game remained tied until Brett Perlini got the last crack off a rebound to put the Panthers ahead for good at 54:17.

The next shift saw Robert Lachowicz give the Panthers a two-goal lead with 4:29 left to play after he scored a beauty past Bowns after a defensive turnover by the Devils.

The Devils coaching staff opted to pull the netminder for an extra attacker when they got a late powerplay with 3:44 left to play, but the move backfired as Eric Lindhagen scored an empty net short-handed goal at 56:30 to give the home side the 6-3 lead.

Layne Ulmer scored for the Devils on the powerplay moments later at 58:06 to pull one back but another empty-netter for the Panthers, this time from Robert Farmer sealed the win for Nottingham.

It was a disappointing end to a game that the Devils were in control of with 20 minutes left to play, but for the second straight night, they lost another valuable two points in the Elite League title race. THE Devils relinquished a four-goal lead to lose 8-6 to the Fife Flyers on Saturday night.

They took an early lead when Andrew Hotham scored on the powerplay just 55 seconds into the game. He scored his second of the game at 6:49 make it 2-0.

Then, at 8:02, Josh Batch scored to make it 3-0.

The Flyers pulled one back with a powerplay goal at 11:17 from Carlo Finucci to make it 3-1, which is how the first period ended.

The Devils looked to be in complete control midway through the game after scoring another two goals, first from Joey Martin on the powerplay at 21:49, then from Bryce Reddick at 28:13, but then the wheels came off for the Devils.

It started with Drew Paris being called for a five-minute major plus a game misconduct for checking to the head.

The resulting powerplay saw the Flyers score three times, once with the Devils down five on three, then twice with them just one man down, but after the penalty was over, the score was 5-4.

Goals from Danick Gauthier at 31:09, Chase Schaber at 32:58 and Finucci, with his second of the game, at 34:56 pulled the Flyers within one after 40 minutes of play.

At the start of the third period, the Devils got their two-goal lead back when Justin Faryna scored at 41:41 on the powerplay to make it 6-4, but then it was all Flyers.

The Devils gave up a shorthanded goal at 45:52 to Evan Bloodoff, then Danick Gauthier scored back-to-back powerplay goals at 48:56 and 50:13 to tie the game and then put the Flyers ahead for the first time.

Gauthier finished the game off with an empty net goal at 59:46 to complete a third period hat-trick and a four-goal game.

The Devils powerplay was three for nine on the night, but it was the penalty kill that let them down.

The Flyers scored six powerplay goals out of seven opportunities to complete the comeback and shock the near sell-out crowd at Ice Arena Wales.