Cardiff Devils are 999 not out – and they take on League leaders Belfast Giants in a crunch 1,000th Elite clash at the Viola Arena on Sunday evening (6pm).

Layne Ulmer (2), Sean Bentivoglio and Charles Linglet scored for Devils in their 4-2 win at MK Lightning and now they are focused on a Giant challenge. 

Devils and Giants are arguably the best two teams in Elite League up to now this season. Belfast were number one seeds in the Challenge Cup when it came to the quarter-final draw, while coach Adam Keefe and his players are top of he table.

Now comes the biggest test of all so far. More than 3,000 spectators will be in Cardiff Bay for a match which will say a lot about the title chase.

New signing Evan Mosey made his debut for Devils at MK Lightning and head coach Andrew Lord said: “He has huge speed, uses that well and reads the game extremely well.

“Evan fits into our up tempo game and the guys are happy to have him here.

“Losing Benny Blood was a huge blow, but Evan was a huge pick-up. We are, of course, happy for Ben because he has joined Tappara in Finland. It’s testament to our organisation, to Ben himself and Elite League that a player can step up to the Finnish Elite League.

“I liked our first 40 minutes against MK Lightning, particularly the first period even though we were down at the end of it. We played much more to our style.

“Overall, I wasn’t that happy with the third, but we will work on that going forward.”

Devils were 2-1 down after the opening 20 minutes, but stormed back with a 3-0 advantage in the middle period and that  completed the scoring.

Lord’s men badly outshot Lightning during the first two periods more than three to one (46-15) and home goalie Patrick Killeen was in magnificent form.

Linglet fired Devils ahead (1-23) before Lightning went ahead thanks to a weird goal for Cole Shudra, who tied the game at 7-37 when he shot the puck on net from just inside the blueline and a routine save for netminder Ben Bowns somehow got away from him and found its way into the net to make it 1-1.

Tim Wallace then scored with a short-handed bullet from the blueline to take the lead at 14-15.

Ulmer pulled it back to 2-2 after 27-43 and Devils took the lead through Sean Bentivoglio.

Just after halfway (30-51) Killeen was called for tripping and unsportsmanlike conduct on the same play and the Devils powerplay made him pay when Gleason Fournier banged in a rebound to make it 4-2 at 34-31 with Ulmer picking up the assist.

Devils played a professional final period to see out the match and earn the win they needed to go into Sunday’s massive clash full of confidence. 

Match stats: 

Scorers:

Lightning: Cole Shudra 1+0, Tim Wallace 1+0, Andreas Valdix 0+1, Georgs Golovkovs 0+1, Harry Ferguson 0+1,  

Devils: Layne Ulmer 2+1, Sean Bentivoglio 1+0, Charles Linglet 1+0, Gleason Fournier 0+2, Stephen Dixon 0+1, Mike Hedden 0+1, Jake Morissette 0+1, Joey Martin 0+1, Evan Mosey 0+1.

Period scores (Lightning first): 2-1; 0-3 (2-4); 0-0 (2-4)

Shots on goal: Lightning (on Bowns) 8+7+8=23; Devils (on Killeen) 16+30+10=56.

Penalties in minutes: Lightning: 2+10+4=16; Devils: 2+4+4=10.

Special teams: Lightning PK 5/6, PP 0/3; Devils PK 3/3, PP 1/6.

Referees: Matt Thompson, Tom Pering

Attendance: 1,825

ELITE ICE HOCKEY LEAGUE 2018-19

TEAM	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	PIM	STREAK
Belfast Giants	18	14	4	0	28	.778	69	37	255	6-0
Fife Flyers	17	12	3	2	26	.765	69	51	232	3-0
Nottingham Panthers	19	10	7	2	22	.579	54	60	312	0-1
Cardiff Devils	14	10	3	1	21	.750	61	33	141	1-0
Guildford Flames	14	9	5	0	18	.643	48	40	227	5-0
Coventry Blaze	14	7	3	4	18	.643	52	50	202	0-2
Manchester Storm	17	7	9	1	15	.441	46	55	523	0-1
Glasgow Clan	14	7	7	0	14	.500	41	47	179	1-0
Sheffield Steelers	18	7	11	0	14	.389	48	66	280	0-1
Dundee Stars	15	2	6	7	11	.367	35	53	183	0-2
Milton Keynes Lightning	16	3	11	2	8	.250	33	64	353	0-8

Tickets for the 2018-19 are on sale now. 

CLICK HERE TO BOOK ONLINE or CALL 0800 0842 666 to book

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