Devils leave it late for win

CARDIFF Devils scored five goals in a stunning third period to sink Dundee Stars 8-6 in an Elite League clash at the Viola Arena.

Devils’ powerplay had an early chance to get things going, but it was Stars who opened the scoring at 3:30 with a short-handed goal from Elgin Pearce.

Mark Richardson tied the game less than two minutes later with a wrist shot through traffic from the blueline that beat Alex Leclerc at 5:10 to make it 1-1.

Just one minute into the middle frame, Stars were back in front with Drydn Dow beating Ben Bowns, then Elgin Pearce extended the lead for the visitors at 28:00 with a breakaway goal.

Devils’ powerplay pulled one back with Joey Martin setting up Sean McMonagle for a blast from the point to make it 3-2 at 28:37.

Just over a minute later McMonagle sent Matias Sointu in on a breakaway and he buried it through Leclerc to tie the game up at 29:51.

Stars took over in the final five minutes of the second period with two quick goals, from Kevin Dufour and Justin Maylan to make it 5-3.

In the final period, Devils were soon level with two goals, both from Matt Pope to tie the game up.

Stars took back the lead at 49:23 when Dow scored his second goal of the night, but 40 seconds later Gleason Fournier fired a wrist shot from the blueline that found the back of the net to tie the game up again at 50:02.

Devils took the lead at 52:29 when some impressive forechecking led to Blair Riley finding Stephen Dixon in front of the net at 52:29.

Stars had their chances to tie the game with back-to-back powerplays, but with the Dundee net empty and the Stars skating 6 on 4, Matthew Myers cleared the puck the length of the ice into the empty net to seal the win.

Devils travel to face Coventry Blaze in an Elite League clash tomorrow (5.30pm) before hosting Swedish side and EHL champions Frolunda Indians at the Viola Arena on Tuesday (7.30pm) in a Champions League clash.