Cardiff Devils 2, Glasgow Clan 6
Andrew Lord gave a brutally honest assessment of Cardiff Devils’ Elite League home defeat against Glasgow Clan and then said: “We need a response at Coventry on Sunday.
“We’ll dig deep and rely on our competitive spirit. That is tremendous.
“We’ve made one heck of a start to the season overall and this is not the time to sound alarm bells just because we didn’t score enough and gave away a few chances too easy.”
Head coach Lord took part of the blame for a bitterly disappointing defeat, although an injury sustained by Blair Riley was another significant factor.
Riley watched most of the match alongside injured team-mates Joey Martin and Evan Mosey, while Devils battled fiercely without the success they wanted.
“We weren’t sharp, while Riley going out of the game affected us slightly.
“I don’t think I did a good enough job personally managing the lines after that. I wasn’t happy with a few of my decisions.
“The guys generated a ton of chances and had a lot of shots. Patrick Killeen was excellent, while their D- corps battled hard and the Clan team as a whole had a huge amount of blocked shots.
“We did not have that one play or two at the right time and on the flip side the floodgates opened for probably three minutes and we were chasing it after that.
“We were clawing and doing everything we could, but it was too little too late.Then we took a couple of selfish penalties a that put the game away.
“The defeat is a wake-up call. I wouldn’t we are a complacent team. I really like our group, they care, come to work every day. There have just been little extra signs over the last 10 days that things are slipping slightly.
“When you don’t bring it 100 per cent in certain areas that can cost you. We lost our composure a little a few times and that’s one area to clean up.
“I felt there was an opportunity for players to step up and grab the bull by the horns with Riles (Blair Riley) and Joey (Martin) out.
“We needed more more hunger in and around the net to gets loose or get a second whack at the puck.”
Lord said Riley’s problem was not serious, saying: “A lot of that decision was precautionary.
“Joey Martin is getting there. He is working religiously and tirelessly to start playing as quickly as possible.”
Devils scored first on a powerplay when Sean Bentivoglio got the final touch on the puck after Matias Sointu threw it on net at 12-36. Just over a minute later the score was tied when Glasgow’s Matt Beca beat Ben Bowns shortside at 13-47.
Clan took the lead at 22-55 when Craig Peacock batted a rebounding puck past Bowns and less than two minutes later Mac Howlett made it 3-1 with a shot that fooled Bowns to give the visitors a commanding lead.
Mathieu Roy put the Clan up 4-1 after 25-52 to cap off a three-minute burst that saw Glasgow score three timers.
The visitors extended their lead to 5-1 at 47-19 when Rasmus Bjerrum somehow got the puck over Bowns from a bad angle, but the Devils immediately pulled one back through Sam Jardine’s wrist shot through traffic at 47-50.
Devils pressed for another goal, but couldn’t get anything past Patrick Killeen in net for Clan, who made 41 saves.
Clan added an empty net goal at 56-46 to round off the scoring at 6-2.
Devils play Coventry Blaze away in a Challenge Cup group match on Sunday.
Coventry and Cardiff suffered on Saturday. Both teams conceded six to Scottish opposition.
Devils lead Challenge Cup group B with an unbeaten start thanks to the midweek overtime win in Guildford. Coventry have only played once in the cup.
“We’re going to see a lot of Cardiff over the next few weeks,” says Blaze defenceman David Clements.
“We know the challenge, but we’re looking forward to it. It’s a good test for us. Our home games are going to be crucial in the cup and we’re going to have to be at our best to earn a positive result.”
Match stats – Devils v Clan on Saturday
Scorers, Devils: Sean Bentivoglio 1+1, Sam Jardine 1+0, Stephen Dixon 0+1, Matias Sointu 0+1, Sean McMonagle 0+1.
Clan: Matt Beca 1+0, Craig Peacock 1+0, Mac Howlett 1+0, Mathieu Roy 1+0, Rasmus Bierrum 1+0, Matthew Haywood 1+0, Chad Rau 0+1, Matt Beca 0+1, Travis Erhardt 0+1, Linden Springer 0+2, Jordan Heywood 0+1, Scott Tanski 0+1, Matthew Haywood 0+1, Matt Pufahl 0+1, Scott Pitt 0+1.
Period scores (Devils first) 1-1; 0-3 (1-4); 1-2 (2-6)
Penalties in minutes: Devils 4+6+10=20, Clan 4+10+6=20
Attendance: 2649
Referees: Matt Thompson and Stefan Hogarth
Devils team:
Goalie: Ben Bowns
First line: Gleason Fournier, Mark Richardson, Sean Bentivoglio, Stephen Dixon, Matias Sointu
Second line: Mark Louis, Sean McMonagle, Charles Linglet, Mike McNamee, Blair Riley
Third line: Sam Jardine, Bryce Reddick, Masi Marjamaki, Joey Haddad, Matt Pope
Fourth line: Josh Batch, Matthew Myers, Sam Duggan