Cardiff Devils 5, Braehead Clan 0
The chumps are looking like champs again.
Player-Coach Andrew Lord talked of his pride in Cardiff Devils’ players after they earned a second shut-out in four days.
Lord’s men suffered devastating back-to-back defeats against MK Lightning and Manchester Storm last weekend, but they have reacted with class and character.
“It was the end of the world a week ago, but there was a total buy-in plus hunger and desire against Dundee and Braehead,” said Lord. “There is always hunger and the need to play well, but that extra five or 10 per cent makes all the difference.
“You can go from chumps to champs again. We are getting our momentum and swagger back.
“There is an expectation to win every game and we love that. It means we are successful.
“We all learned a lot from last weekend and when things go wrong we will manage that better as a team.”
Matt Pope and Paul Crowder were both unavailable and Lord tweaked the lines.
Lord joined Layne Ulmer and Justin Faryna, while Joey Haddad, Joey Martin and Patrick Asselin joined forces.
Matthew Myers linked up with Jake Morissette and Bentivoglio.
Goaltender Ben Bowns blanked Cardiff’s opponents for a second time, having stopped Dundee Stars in a 4-0 midweek win.
Bowns made 23 saves to deny Scottish visitors Braehead, having blanked Dundee Stars in a 4-0 win during midweek.
Man of the match Mark Richardson (2), Josh Batch, Sean Bentivoglio and Justin Faryna were the scorers for Devils, who now turn to Tuesday’s Champions League home clash with Vaxjo Lakers.
Devils scored early when Richardson and Andrew Hotham combined to set up Josh Batch on three minutes one second.
After 11-20 the home side doubled their lead after Morissette found Bentivoglio in front of the net and he fired the puck past Braehead netminder Ryan Nie.
There was only one goal in the middle period, but what a beauty. After sitting a two minute penalty, Drew Paris came out of the box, chased down a pass from Morissette and fired a perfect pass from the corner onto the stick of Richardson who was flying into the play.
Richardson timed it perfectly and the puck went through Nie to make it 3-0 at 29-52.
Richardson scored his second goal of the night after 43-19 to make it 4-0, Batch and Ulmer drawing assists, before Faryna rounded off the scoring at 45-47 with assists to Paris and Bentivoglio.
Match stats:
Scorers, Devils: Mark Richardson 2+1, Josh Batch 1+1, Sean Bentivoglio 1+1, Justin Faryna 1+0, Andrew Hotham 0+1, Drew Paris 0+2, Layne Ulmer 0+1, Jake Morissette 0+2.
Period scores: 2-0; 1-0 (3-0); 2-0 (5-0).
Ticket information for all Devils’ home matches, including the Champions League fixture against Swedish club Vaxjo on Tuesday, is available online via the Cardiff Devils official website or by phoning 0800 0842 666. Tickets can also be purchased in person from the main reception at Ice Arena Wales.