Celebration time for Cardiff Devils at Guildford Flames. Pic: John Uwins.

Cardiff Devils Close In On Elite Leaders Belfast

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Cardiff Devils are in good shape going into Christmas, one point behind leaders Belfastt Giants with two games in hand.

There is a lot of work ahead for Devils, but they are on a mission become the first team ever to win three successive top tier titles.

Captain Jake Morissette and his Devils team fell behind after only 20 seconds when John Dunbar scored.

Joey Haddad made it 1-1 with just over a minute gone and he then turned provider when Mark Richardson put Cardiff ahead at 18-33 to give them the lead after 20 minutes.

Eric Lindhagen’s powerplay goal tied the game at 2-2 (32-16) mark, but Stephen Dixon put the Devils back before the second period break.

Bryce Reddick’s goal with 8:55 to go gave the Devils a two-goal cushion they would not relinquish, taking the 4-2 win.

Match stats:

Scorers, Flames: John Dunbar 1+0, Eric Lindhagen 1+0, Ian Watters 0+1, Kruise Reddick 0+1, Evan Janssen 0+1, Ben Davies 0+1.

Devils: Joey Haddad 1+1, Mark Richardson 1+0, Stephen Dixon 1+1, Bryce Reddick 1+0, Mike Hedden 0+2, Charles Linglet 0+1, Layne Ulmer 0+1, Gleason Fournier 0+1.

Period scores (Flames first): 1-1; 1-2 (2-3); 

Shots on goal: Flames (on Bowns) 12+12; Devils (on Carrozzi) 16+16+

Penalties in minutes:  Flames 14+2+0=16; Devils 0+6+2=8.

Referees: Dean Smith and Tom Pering.

Attendance: 2,110.

Stars of the game: Flames, Evan Janssen; Devils, Stephen Dixon.

Sunday results:

Glasgow Clan 6, Sheffield Steelers 3

A tight first period sprang into life with less than two minutes to go before the break. Matt Beca put the Clan in front at 18-02, and only 32 seconds later Rasmus Bjerrum doubled the home side’s advantage. 

With 61 seconds of the middle session played Steelers found themselves three down thanks to Brendan Connolly’s powerplay marker, although Rob Dowd’s effort at 24-27 got the visitors on the board and back to within two.

Clan were back three ahead when Beca made it 4-1 on 28-12 gone. The forward then completed a hat-trick with 69 seconds played in the final period and at 5-1 things looked comfortable for the Clan. 

Two goals 43 seconds apart from Jordan Owens and Ben O’Connor brought the score back to 5-3 with 13 minutes to go, but Connolly secured the 6-3 win with 3-36.

Dundee Stars 0, Nottingham Panthers 3

A shutout win for Nottingham Panthers in Dundee gave them the early Christmas present of a four-point weekend.

Dylan Richard, Tim Billingsley and Luke Pither scored the goals.

Coventry Blaze 4, MK Lightning 5 (after overtime and a penalty shootout)

Georgs Golovkovs scored the deciding penalty to earn Lightning victory.

Blaze went ahead through Nicolai Bryhnisveen (97 seconds), but Lightningn hit back to lead 3-1. Radek Meidl scored twice as Lightning led 3-1, before Ben Lake pulled one back for Blaze.

There were no goals in the second period, Luke Ferrara tied things up at 44-44.

Shaun Pauly put Blaze ahead on the powerplay 90 seconds later, but they were pegged back by MK when Welshman Owen Griffiths scored to make it 4-4 with 5-20 to go.

Goalie Patrick Killeen pulled of a string of superb saves to keep Lightning on even terms as the game went to overtime. 

Both sides had opportunities to win it in OT, but the game went to penalties. 

Lightning scored three of their shots, Golovkovs netting the deciding shot to give MK the extra point.

Remaining Devils fixtures in 2018:

December

Boxing Day, Wednesday 26 v Coventry Blaze (away, 6pm)

Thursday 27 v Coventry Blaze (home, 7pm)

Sunday 30 v Guildford Flames (away, 6pm)

TICKETS for Devils home games available ONLINE HERE or by calling 0800 0842 666 or in person at the reception desk at VIOLA ARENA right up until face-off.

ELITE ICE HOCKEY LEAGUE 2018-19

TEAM GP W L OTL PTS PCT GF GA PIM STREAK
Belfast Giants 30 22 7 1 45 .750 113 66 433 1-0
Cardiff Devils 28 20 4 4 44 .786 113 73 345 4-0
Nottingham Panthers 32 18 8 6 42 .656 104 92 526 2-0
Fife Flyers 28 15 9 4 34 .607 97 91 363 0-1
Guildford Flames 28 14 13 1 29 .518 93 88 400 0-2
Glasgow Clan 26 14 11 1 29 .558 82 88 304 3-0
Sheffield Steelers 29 14 15 0 28 .483 86 97 417 0-1
Dundee Stars 30 10 12 8 28 .467 79 101 322 0-2
Coventry Blaze 27 10 11 6 26 .481 86 100 364 0-2
Manchester Storm 29 11 15 3 25 .431 78 104 784 0-1
Milton Keynes Lightning 29 10 17 2 22 .379 72 103 588 1-0

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