Cardiff Devils 4, Dundee Stars 1
Cardiff Devils are once again seven points clear at the top of Elite League.
Belfast Giants had cut their advantage to five points by beating Nottingham Panthers 7-3 in Friday and leaders Devils responded by beating Dundee Stars at Ice Arena Wales.
Joey Haddad (2), Mark Richardson and Josh Batch netted the Devils goals in front of a capacity attendance of 3,088.
Devils and second-placed Giants with have five matches left to play in the League season.
Cardiff take on Sheffield Steelers away on Sunday (5pm).
First period:
Devils dominated and Stars held on.
The visitors were organised and disciplined, while goalie Joe Fallon produced several big saves.
Devils rested big defenceman Mark Louis with Chris Culligan the D-corps and Guillaume Doucet returning to the forward line.
Canadian Doucet combined with Andrew Lord and Matthew Myers.
Stars were also desperate for points in their quest to qualify for the end-of-season play-offs.
The too eight go forward and Stars were in the final qualifying place going into their clash with Devils.
They moved past Gardiner Conference rivals Manchester after top scorer Vinny Scarsella scored three goals and seven points across Dundee’s two games as Marc LeFebvre’s side beat Braehead 4-1 before securing a 5-1 victory in Edinburgh the following evening.
That put Scarsella on 18 goals and 66 points in 46 Elite League games this season.
End of first: Devils 0, Stars 0.
Second period:
Devils came out hard and took the lead on 20 minutes 48 seconds. Richardson was the marksmen, assisted by Andrew Hotham and Joey Martin.
But the home team failed to build on that and were caught out when Stars levelled the scores thanks to a short-handed goal.
Cale Tanaka scored after 23-26 with Craig Moore and Joey Sides creating the chance.
Stars were intense and tenacious, but they were facing steady pressure.
They cracked just after the halfway mark when Haddad was in the right place to fire a close range shot into the net after good work by Richardson and Layne Ulmer on 31-19.
In the final seconds of the period Devils netminder Ben Bowns made a big save from Kevin Hart, who was unmarked in front of the goal.
End of second: Devils 2, Stars 1.
Third period:
Devils took control thanks a second goal from Haddad, who powered a shot low past Fallon, and Josh Batch, who netted with another crisp finish.
Stars kept battling, but they were unable to force their payback into what had been a hard fought match.
Match stats:
Scorers,
Devils: Mark Richardson 1+1, Joey Haddad 2+0, Josh Batch 1+0, Layne Ulmer 0+1, Andrew Hotham 0+1, Joey Martin 0+1, Scott Hotham 0+1, Ben Bowns 0+1, Matthew Myers 0+1.
Stars: Cale Tanaka 1+0, Craig Moore 0+1, Joey Sides 0+1.
Period scores (Devils first): 0-0; 2-1 (2-1);
Penalties in minutes: Devils 2+0+4=6; Stars 4+4+6=14.
Referee: Dean Smith.
Men of the match: Devils, Joey Haddad; Stars, Cale Tanaka.