Cardiff Devils stumbled in their Elite League title chasing, losing 3-1 at Manchester Storm in Altrincham.

Former Cardiff Devils captain Ryan Finnerty and his Storm troopers held on for a crucial victory.

Storm coach Finnerty has steered his team into second place behind leaders Devils and they made a big statement with this win.

The pressure is on for Cardiff in their sold out League clash with Belfast Giants at Ice Arena Wales on Sunday (6pm).

Devils fired 42 shots at the Storm net, but came up short in the battle between the league’s two top teams.

Captain Jake Morissette and his Devils team outshot Storm 10-6 in the opening period, but the lone goal came from the Storm’s Matt Stanisz to give the home team a 1-0 lead.

Devils failed clear the puck out of their zone and two great passes set up Stanisz,who blasted a cannon past Ben Bowns in net for the Devils.

Storm doubled their lead 14 seconds into the middle period when Dane Byers scored on the opening shift to make it 2-0 with Linden Springer and Luke Moffatt drawings assists on the play.

Devils continued to pile on the pressure in the third period, outshooting the Storm 17-5, but Mike Clemente was superb in the Manchester net.

Storm made it 3-0 on a shot that seemed to surprise Bowns when Ciaran Long hammered a loose puck that fooled the goalie at 44-25.

Devils pulled Bowns for an extra attacker with just over three minutes to play, but still couldn’t find a way past Clemente.

Finally, with 50 seconds left to Patrick Asselin scored to make it 3-1 on a shot that was reviewed by the officials and eventually rewarded despite the first official back on the ice signalling it a ‘no-goal’ only to be corrected by his refereeing partner.

It was too little, too late for the Devils and the Storm hung on for a vital win between the top two teams in the league.