By Terry Phillips
Cardiff Devils 3, Sheffield Steelers 2
More than 3,000 fans roared Cardiff Devils to victory against rivals Sheffield Steelers at Ice Arena Wales on Sunday.
On a dramatic night in Cardiff Bay, Andrew Lord, Guillaume Doucet and Gleason Fournier, with the winner, scored for Devils.
Steelers coach Paul Thompson threw the team’s sticks down the players’ tunnel in frustration at the end of the game after Devils defeated their visitors for a fourth time this season.
This was a fourth successive win for Devils, who are 11 points clear at the top of Elite League, although second-placed Steelers have five games in hand.
The next test for Devils is against Nottingham Panthers at home on Wednesday (7.30pm).
First period
Devils were again without defenceman Mark Louis because of injury and play-coach Andrew Lord lined up on a line with Layne Ulmer and Sean Bentivoglio.
Matthew Myers joined Guillaume Doucet and Joey Haddad, while Patrick Asselin linked up with Joey Martin and Jake Morissette.
The fourth line, with David Brine and Patrick Bordeleau plus Luke Piggott or Chris Jones, was the most effective during a first period when neither side were able to gain the upper hand.
There were no goals and no penalties in a tight, hard fought contest.
End of period: Devils 0, Steelers 0.
Second period
Steelers lost their cool in the second when they had Guillaume Desbiens thrown out of the game, while Markus Nilsson was given a 10-minute misconduct penalty. Both offences were abuse of officials.
Head coach Paul Thompson was furious on the away bench as Steelers had a goal ruled out and felt decisions were going against them.
Cardiff-born Jonathan Phillips fired Sheffield away on 23-25 when he skated through the middle and shot low past goalie Bowns.
Devils were level within a minute when they levelled the scores four seconds into a powerplay.
Nilsson was penalised for holding Doucet’s stick and when Gleason Fournier fired the puck at goal it was Lord who added the finals (24-18).
Steelers fans were celebrating wildly when referee Jan Schmejkal awarded a goal even though the goal judge clearly didn’t agree. Schmejkal was adamant the puck had gone in, but changed his mind after the goal judge left her seat behind the goal and told the ref: “It didn’t go in.”
He changed his mind and home fans cheered as he made it clear he had ruled it out.
Desbiens was given two 10-minute misconduct penalties and a game as Steelers lost their cool, while Nilson sat out for 10 minutes after shouting at a linesman.
Devils took the lead on 36-01 when a penalty was called on Steelers and goalie Bowns left the ice to make way for an extra skater. Joey Martin skated on, took possession and slid a pass in for Doucet to score.
It was a bad tempered second period with Devils edging ahead in a tight contest.
End of period: Devils 2, Steelers 1.
Third period
Indiscipline by Sheffield’s Zak Fitzgerald proved costly for Steelers.
They had levelled the scores thanks to a powerplay goal by Mathieu Roy (32-32), but with teams tied on 2-2 Fitzgerald cross-checked Devils forward Matthew Myers three times from behind and was given a 2+2 penalty.
The clock has just clicked over into the second of those penalties when Fournier fired the winner (55-57).
Bentivoglio and Jake Morissette both went close to scored for Cardiff, while there was drama in the final two minutes when Doucet was penalised for holding.
Steelers pulled their goalie and pressed hard with six skaters to Cardiff’s four, but were denied by a resolute home team and netminder Ben Bowns, who saved brilliantly from Mike Ratchuk.
End of game: Devils 3, Steelers 2.
Match stats:
Scorers,
Devils: Andrew Lord 1+0, Guillaume Doucet 1+1, Gleason Fournier 1+1, Layne Ulmer 0+1, Joey Martin 0+1, Sean Bentivoglio 0+1.
Steelers: Jonathan Phillips 1+0, Mathieu Roy 1-0; John Armstrong 0+1, Davey Phillips 0+1, Chris Bjorklund 0+1.
Period scores (Devils first): 0-0; 2-1 (2-1); 1-1 (3-2).
Shots on goal: Devils (on Mustukovs) 7+10+12=28; Steelers (on Bowns) 6+12+12=30.
Penalties in minutes: Devils 0+6+4=10; Steelers 0+42+4=46.
Powerplays: Devils 2/4; Steelers 1/5.
Stars of the game: Devils, Gleason Fournier; Steelers, Mathieu Roy.
Coventry Blaze 3, Cardiff Devils 6
Cardiff Devils extended their lead at the top of Elite League to nine points thanks to their comeback win at Coventry’s Skydome rink on Saturday night.
Player-coach Andrew Lord and his team battled back after Blaze took control in the first period.
Devils fired five unanswered goals to earn a fourth successive victory.
Back-up netminder Thomas Murdy was named man of the match after taking over from Ben Bowns and saving 27 shots, while defenceman Chris Culligan was the star skater of the night.
He was effective on D and finished with two goals plus two assists.
First period
Three goals in six minutes midway through the opening period put Blaze in control.
Devils opened the scoring through Patrick Asselin after two minutes six seconds, but Blaze hit back.
Jordan Pietrus, Ashley Tait and David Clements scored to give their team a 3-1 lead.
Devils then made a goaltender change midway through the period when Ben Bowns was replaced by Thomas Murdy, who played the rest of the game in net for the Devils.
Second period
Andrew Hotham was hauled down less than two minutes into the middle period and was awarded a penalty shot, but netminder Brian Stewart saved to keep Coventry’s two-goal lead intact.
Chris Culligan scored following a face-off after David Brine won the puck cleanly, skating across the blueline before firing the puck past Stewart at 30-26.
Then with just over two minutes left in the period, Culligan set up Joey Haddad, who blasted a shot past Stewart to tie the game 3-3 at 37:53.
Third period
The score was 3-3 going into the final 20 minutes and Devils quickly took the lead after 41-26. Gleason Fournier fired a long-range pass to Guillaume Doucet for a breakaway and he put the puck over the shoulder of netminder Stewart to make it 4-3.
Culligan scored his second to make it 5-3 at 52-16 and then player-coach Andrew Lord completed the scoring.
Layne Ulmer and Sean Bentivoglio set up Lord and he finished clinically after 59-08.
Goaltender Murdy was named man of the Match for Devils, stopping all 27 shots he faced.
Chris Culligan scored twice and set up another goal, while Gleason Fournier and Joey Martin both had two assists.
Match stats:
Scorers
Blaze: J Pietrus 1+0, D Clements 1+0, A Tait 1+0, B Robinson 0+2, B Almedia 0+2, R Bergman 0+1.
Devils: C Culligan 2+1, J Haddad 1+0, A Lord 1+0, G Doucet 1+0,
Period scores (Blaze) 3-1; 0-2 (3-3); 0-3 (3-6).
Shots on goal: Devils (on Stewart) 10+14+6=30; Blaze (on Bowns/Murdy) 13+12+11=36.
Powerplays: Blaze 2/2; Devils 1/5.
Referee: Dean Smith.
Attendance: 2,168.
Men of the match: Blaze, D Clements; Devils, T Murdy.