Head coach Andrew Lord loved the first weekend of Cardiff Devils’ domestic season.

Devils won 3-2 against Nottingham Panthers in an Elite League clash and then crushed Milton Keynes Lightning 9-1 in a Challenge Cup group match.

Panthers look genuine title contenders, a big, strong and well organised team playing under highly experienced coach Rich Chernomaz.

Lightning arrived in South Wales with a short bench, having been hit hard by injuries, and they simply could not cope with the speed and clinical finishing from the home team.

“We are happy with our first weekend,” said Lord. “I loved our approach from the get-go. We scored goals early against Lightning and liked how we didn’t let up in the second period.

“Lightning kept going with a shot bench. They are a bit decimated by injuries and we were fortunate to get them at the right time, but our guys played well and played to our details.”

Devils were without injured players Mark Richardson and forward Justin Faryna, while they were able to give regular shifts to all of their healthy players.

Ben Bowns was in goal for the first period and then made way for back-up Thomas Murdy for the next two periods.

A big evening of @officialEIHL hockey ahead! Join Paul Adey, @ChrisEllyEllis & @MurphOnIce for all the action! @cardiffdevils vs @MKLightning from 17:30.#EIHLonFreeSports 📺🏒 pic.twitter.com/rCLxBVxeOc

— FreeSports 📺 (@FreeSports_TV) September 16, 2018

Murdy, nicknamed ‘Mad Dog’ in the locker room, kept a personal shut-out over 40 minutes.

“Everybody knows how good Murdy is,” said Bowns. “He came under pressure and coped with it.

“All the guys were unreal during the first period and they seemed to bury every chance. Our forwards were unbelievable, our D were unbelievable.”

Charles Linglet was man of the match against Lightning, finishing with a goal and four assists, while Joey Martin scored a hat-trick and Mark Louis was outstanding on the blue line. He looks leaner, meaner and seems to have stepped up his levels of performance even more after a hugely impressive first season.

The night started with a pre-game banner raising to commemorate last season’s League title and Play-off Championship.

On Saturday, Devils shocked an impressive Panthers team when they recovered from two goals down to win.

This was the opening Elite League match for reigning champions Devils, who have been on Champions League duty. 

Alex Guptill fired Panthers ahead in the 19th minute and Tyler Biggs made it 2-0 on the powerplay five minutes into the second period.

Devils attacked, pushed Panthers back and fired shot-after-shot at Michael Garnett in goal.

Martin and Craig Moore set up Matt Pope for Cardiff’s first goal after 43-49, while a powerplay goal by Stephen Dixon 96 seconds later made it 2-2 (45-25). Bryce Reddick and Hedden had the assists.

Pope and Martin combined again after 47-54 with the latter scoring to win the match.

Three goals in just over four minutes left Panthers down and out.

Panthers coach Chernomaz said: “Devils battled hard and competed harder than us.

“We failed to make smart decisions at the right time and you can’t do that against Cardiff. After all, they won the triple crown last season.

“The first 20 minutes were evenly matched, but we started getting slopped and turned pucks over. Devils were the better team and we were fortunate to score the second goal.

“The difference was that Devils wanted it more. We had the lead and squandered it because we did not make smart decisions.

“It was a good lesson for us. Now we now what it will take to beat these guys on a consistent basis.”

Ben Bowns finished with 26 saves and got his first win of the Elite League season, backstopping the Devils to victory over the previously undefeated Panthers.

Devils v MK Lightning was the first match televised live by Freesports and Cardiff are involved in the second. That is at Nottingham Panthers on Wednesday, September 26.

Match stats: 

Scoring, Devils: Joey Martin 3+0, Charles Linglet 1+3, Mike Hedden 1+0, Jake Morissette 1+2, Layne Ulmer 1+3, Matt Pope 1+2, Bryce Reddick 1+1, Josh Batch 0+2, Gleason Fournier 0+1, Sean Bentivoglio 0+1, Joey Haddad 0+1.

Lightning: David Norris 1+0, Michael Fine 0+1, Andreas Valdix 0+1.

Period scores (Devils first): 6-1; 3-0 (9-1); 0-0 (9-1).

Shots on goal: Devils (on Killeen) 19+14+5=38, MK Lightning (on Bowns for 20 mins, on Murdy for 40) 7+7+11=25.

Penalties in minutes: Devils 0+2+4=6; Lightning 2+4+0=6.

Referee: Tom Darnell and Matt Thompson.

Other results:

Saturday: Belfast Giants 6, Glasgow Clan 4; Fife Flyers 1, Dundee Stars 3; Milton Keynes Lightning 4, Coventry Blaze 2; Sheffield Steelers 2, Manchester Storm 3 (shootout); 

Sunday: Coventry Blaze 4, Nottingham Panthers 5; Manchester Storm 2, Glasgow Clan 4; Guildford 5, Sheffield Steelers 1; Dundee 3, Fife Flyers 2.