Devils all set for big European campaign
THE Devils came out on the wrong side of a 4-2 scoreline against MAC Ujbuda at Viola Arena on Sunday Night.
It was the final warm-up for the Devils before their 2019 Champions Hockey League campaign gets underway on Friday when Mountfield HK from the Czech Republic come to town.
Sunday’s visitors opened the scoring at 9:24 of the first period with a powerplay strike from Chris Langkow.
Just over a minute later, the Devils evened the score when Charles Linglet scored off of a goal mouth pass from Mike McNamee at 10:40 to make it 1-1.
The middle period saw Ujbuda go back in front with a second powerplay goal and the second of the night for Langkow at 27:44 to make it 2-1.
Then, at 33:24, the visitors went up 3-1 courtesy of Istvan Sofron who beat Ben Bowns in net for the Devils. With 22 seconds left in the period Joey Martin set up Blair Riley for his first goal in a Devils uniform to pull the home side within one going into the final period.
The teams traded powerplay chances early in the period, then with just over 10 minutes left, the Devils had a golden opportunity to tie the game when Ujbuda went down two men for over 1 minute and 20 seconds, but the powerplay couldn’t convert.
The Devils threw everything they had at the Ujbuda goal in the dying minutes, but with Bowns pulled for the extra attacker, the visitors scored an empty net goal to seal the 4-2 win.
Next up for the Devils is the first two games of the Champions Hockey League, as they host Mountfield HK on Friday Night at 7:30pm and then Graz 99ers on Sunday at 4:00pm.