Bouncing back from a devastating 6-3 loss to the Nottingham
Panthers, the Cardiff Devils gained those precious two points in an exciting
5-3 win over the visiting Hull Stingrays.
Despite the finishing score line, it was the visiting team
that started the scoring off, with former Devils Jason Silverthorn showing some
amazing skill as he travels past several of the Devils’ players and shooting
the puck passed Lyle. But that didn’t
slow the Welsh side down; with a man-advantage, Devils’ forward Scott Matzka
tipped the puck passed Boucher to level the score before the end of the first.
Even though the score was tied coming into the second, the
Devils’ were a definitely a force to be reckoned with. Just 44 seconds after the restarted, the
Devils had pushed ahead, with Matzka getting his second goal of the night,
after picking up the puck from fellow Devils Sam Smith and shooting it
five-hole. Now on a role, it wasn’t long
until Cardiff had extended their lead further, with a nice poke from Coach Gee,
who had only just returned to the ice after taking a puck to the face, to make
it three-one Devils.
With the Devils’ leading 3-1 when entering the third, it
seemed that Hull were beginning to wake up.
In the opening minutes of the final twenty, Head Coach Cloutier managed
to bring one back for the English side, bouncing the puck of Lyle’s pad into
the back of the net. Despite the pickup
in play by the ‘Rays, nothing could stop the Devils’ now and fan favourite Jeff
Pierce redirecting the puck behind Boucher whilst Cardiff had the
man-advantage. Not finished yet, Scott
Matzka also shot the puck home, for one final Cardiff goal, to earn himself a hatrick,
also on the powerplay.
In a last ditched attempt to level the score, Hull’s Osman
took a blinding shot at the net, beating Lyle and bringing the final score to
5-3 Devils.
With two more points in the bank, it’s now time for the
Devils’ to prepare for next weekend, which will take the Devils up north to
visit Scottish teams the Braehead Clan, who currently sit behind Cardiff in
fifth with 57 points, and the Dundee Stars, who are just outside the playoff berth
with 24 points. All teams need those
points, make sure you follow along to find out who gets them… Let’s Go Devils!
