Sheffield Steelers 3, Cardiff Devils 4
after sudden death overtime
Sheffield Steelers were cursing their luck after Elite League champions Cardiff Devils collected a first match win at the House of Steel.
The teams were locked at 3-3 during overtime when Cardiff’s Justin Faryna fired a shot which flew over the Steelers net and hit the glass surrounds at Motorpoint Arena.
When the puck rebounded it struck goaltender Ervins Mustukovs on the back and went into the Sheffield net.
That was the goal which decided a tense, fiercely contested match.
Devils fans celebrated, their team had opened their title defence with a win.
Tonight, at Ice Arena Wales (Sunday), they are at home against Nottingham Panthers, another crunch clash at the start of 2017-18 (6pm face-off).
Cardiff’s fixture in Sheffield, against one of their most intense rivals, was always going to be tough. After all, Devils clinched the League title with a win at Sheffield last season – and the Steelers were fired up for revenge.
During the build-up to Devils’ visit there was talk in South Yorkshire about how Cardiff had taken Sheffield’s title – and they want it back.
Coach Paul Thompson and his players were intent on laying down an early marker in the opening League match, but things simply didn’t go to plan.
Devils led 3-1 at one stage and, while Sheffield fought back, it was player-coach Andrew Lord and his team who went home with the win.
Lord was in the Devils team with defenceman Drew Paris ruled out by a minor injury.
It was an incredible game on Saturday.
Devils opened the scoring five minutes 39 seconds into the first period when Sean Bentivoglio picked up a rebound after Joey Haddad tried to jam the puck past Mustukovs to give the Devils a 1-0 lead on the powerplay.
Steelers were level at 1-1 after 11-52 when John Armstrong scored his first goal of the night with Scott Aarssen and Mark Matheson drawing assists.
The middle period saw the Devils score twice in 36 seconds to take a 3-1 lead. First Joey Martin broke free after being set up by linemates Matt Pope and Patrick Asselin and he fired over Mustukovs to make it 2-1 at 23-46.
Then, right off the face-off, Devils turned a broken play into another goal with Pope getting in on the Steelers net and completely fooling Mustukovs to double the Devils lead at 24-22.
Steelers pulled one back in the middle period, this time on the powerplay when Colton Fretter scored at 30-44 to pull the score back to 3-2 with assists to Ben O’Connor and Tim Wallace.
Devils carried their 3-2 lead into the final period and had a chance to put the game away after Tim Wallace was given a double minor penalty for high-sticking at 43-01, giving Devils four straight minutes with a man-advantage.
Bryce Reddick was called for hooking Steelers’ captain Jonathan Phillips on a breakaway during the Devils powerplay and Phillips was awarded a penalty shot at 25-35.
Goalie Ben Bowns came up with a big save to keep the Devils ahead 3-2, but the Steelers penalty killers were on form and managed to kill the rest of the four minutes off, which gave them a huge boost.
The momentum continued to swing in favour of the Steelers when Matthew Myers was called for tripping at 48-44 and the home team powerplay went to work, scoring the goal to make it 3-3 at 49-05 when Armstrong walked out from the corner and roofed the puck over Bowns on the short side to make it 3-3.
Both teams traded chances with the Steelers outshooting the Devils in the final period but the period ran down and the game remained tied and went into overtime.
The 3v3 overtime period was filled with chances at both ends of the ice. Bowns was there with two huge saves to keep the Devils in the game.
The winner came off the stick of Faryna and Devils fans who had made the trip erupted into celebrations.
Match stats:
Scorers, Steelers: John Armstrong 2+0, Colton Fretter 1+0, Scott Aarssen 0+1, Mark Matheson 0+1, Ben O’Connor 0+2, Tim Wallace 0+2.
Devils: Sean Bentivoglio 1+0, Joey Martin 1+1, Matt Pope 1+1, Justin Faryna 1+0, Joey Haddad 0+1, Patrick Asselin 0+2.
Period scores (Steelers first): 1-1; 1-2 (2-3); 1-0 (3-3);0-1 (3-4).
Shots on goal: Steelers (on Bowns) 6+13+7+2=28; Devils (on Mustukovs) 9+8+6+1=24.
Powerplays: Steelers 2/3; Devils 1/5.
Penalties in minutes: Steelers 4+0+6=10; Devils 0+4+4=6.Attendance: 5,286
Referee: Stefan Hogarth
Stars of the game: Steelers, John Armstrong; Devils, Andrew Hotham.
Tickets for Sunday’s home match against Panthers have been selling fast and information is available on 0800 0842 666 or book in person at Ice Arena Wales.
Nottingham Panthers, who play Devils in Cardiff Bay this evening, secured their fourth straight home victory on Saturday night, but were made to work for it by Elite League newcomers Guildford Flames.
Panthers won 3-2 after overtime.
After a goal less first period, John Dunbar put the visitors ahead after 28 minutes before goals from Alexander Mokshantsev and Brett Perlini gave Nottingham the advantage heading in to the second period break.
The two sides continued to trade chances, Guildford eventually drawing level through Kruise Reddick and with neither side able to find a winner the game went into to overtime.
Flames continued to put pressure on Garnett’s goal, but Robert Farmer scored Nottingham’s crucial decider.
Other results:
Challenge Cup: Belfast 7, Dundee Stars 4, Fife Flyers 5, Edinburgh Capitals 2.
League: Manchester Storm 0, Coventry Blaze 5; MK Lightning 3, Braehead Clan 1; Nottingham Panthers 3, Guildford Flames 2 (OT).