Andrew Lord is demanding his Cardiff Devils find a killer instinct in their quest to regain the Elite League title.
Head coach Lord and his team play Edinburgh Capitals in Scotland on Wednesday when they need a convincing performance at the Murrayfield Arena.
Devils were devastated after losing 4-3 against Belfast Giants in Cardiff Bay when the visitors levelled the scores with five seconds left and won after a penalty shootout.
“It was a pretty gross feeling at the end,” said Lord, who is concerned by the inconsistency of his team. “I’ve never been involved in a stretch of games like this.
“We have played an awful lot of good minutes, but we are finding ways to lose. We need a killer instinct.
“The guys played a good 60 minutes. Credit Giants for their hard work, but if you don’t put teams away things can happen and the bounce went their way.
“Their third goal came when the puck was thrown in and deflected off one of our sticks.
“We have to get that killer instinct and improve our game management. We have enough scorers in the team to get the job done and we didn’t.”
Joey Haddad, Mark Louis and Craig Moore are still ruled out by injuries, but Devils travel to Edinburgh aiming to put their title chase back on track.
All eight quarter-final seeds for the Challenge Cup are now known and for the first time, the new ‘pick your opponent’ format will be employed as each team learns their last eight opponents. Devils are fourth seeds and cannot play Sheffield, Milton Keynes or Belfast.
The new format will also be shown live from 1pm on the EIHL FACEBOOK PAGE where fans can watch and learn who their team will be paired with.
Following Saturday’s game between Manchester Storm and Nottingham Panthers, the list of seeds were finalised and are: 1 Sheffield Steelers; 2 Milton Keynes Lightning; 3 Belfast Giants; 4 Cardiff Devils; 5 Guildford Flames; 6 Fife Flyers; 7 Nottingham Panthers; 8 Dundee Stars.
Top seeds Sheffield Steelers will choose who they wish to play in the quarter-finals from seeds four to eight. Second seeds Milton Keynes Lightning will then choose their opponent from the remaining teams seeded four to eight.
Belfast Giants are ranked three and will have the next selection, while Devils will play the remaining team from the lower seeds.
The winner of Sheffield’s quarter-final will play the winner of Cardiff’s match-up in the semi-finals.
Cardiff Devils have two matches this weekend, against Manchester Storm away on Saturday (7pm) and at home to Dundee Stars the next evening (6pm).
Tickets for Devils home game are available by CLICKING HERE or calling 0800 0842 666.