Fife Flyers 2, Cardiff Devils 4

Captain Jake Morissette and his Devils ‘clawed it out’ against Fife Flyers in Scotland and moved four points clear at the top of Elite League.

Cardiff Devils have eight fixtures left and return home to the Viola Arena this evening where they face Guildford Flames in another crunch match.

They came from a goal down to earn their third win in three League fixtures against Flyers in Kirkcaldy and Fife coach Todd Dutiaume said: “Devils run three or four lines and come at out in waves.

“Fatigue starts setting in a they found a few holes near the end.”

Gleason Fournier scored the winner at 54-05, firing Devils 3-2 ahead, and Sean Bentivoglio added an empty net goal to clinch the points.

“It was a really exciting game, a nailbiting, see-saw battle,” said Devils’ coach Andrew Lord. “We played hard, we played a simple, effective game. The guys clawed it out.

“I loved our character in the third when we found a way to tie it up, go ahead and earn a huge win.

“This was by no means our prettiest win, but a lot of that was down to Fife playing hard and the right way.” 

Goalie Ben Bowns again played a major role in Devils’ victory – and has set an Elite League goaltending record.

He went well over three hours (192 minutes, 14 seconds) over the course of four games without conceding, which is the longest shutout.

Devils reacted after suffering back-to-back defeats against Belfast in Northern Ireland with wins against Glasgow (5-2), Coventry (2-0), Sheffield (6-0) and Fife (4-2).

Man of the match Layne Ulmer scored once and added an assist for Devils on a night when they showed the spirit of champions.

Devils penalty kill had to be sharp early in the first period after Charles Linglet was called for slashing just over one minute into the game.  

A second powerplay chance came and went for the Fife Flyers with another successful penalty kill on Ulmer’s hooking penalty at 7-49.

https://twitter.com/bownsy21/status/1103789598105313281

Devils had their own powerplay chance at 13-58 and took full advantage with Joey Martin feeding Evan Mosey at the back door. Mosey finished off the play with a nice shot past goalie Shane Owens to make it 1-0.

A rather quiet middle period looked like it was going to end with the Devils holding on to their lead, but with just over two minutes to play Basara tied the game for the Flyers to leave it all to play for in the final 20 minutes.

Fife came out flying in the third period, shocking the Devils by sneaking a backhand shot past Bowns to take a 2-1 lead just 24 seconds in thanks to Joe Basaraba.

A beautiful individual effort from Ulmer saw him dance through the Fife defence to tie the game at 46-25 with an unassisted goal.  

Then, at 54-05, Ulmer found Fournier, who circled out of the corner and fired the puck through Owens for the go-ahead goal, making it 3-2 for Devils with six minutes to play.

Fife had a golden opportunity to tie the game when Stephen Dixon was called for interference with less than two and a half minutes to play.

Reaction: Todd Dutiaume & Andrew Lord on @cardiffdevils' 4-2 away win against @FifeFlyers #EIHL pic.twitter.com/29cylmKW6V

— Elite Ice Hockey League | #EIHL (@officialEIHL) March 8, 2019

Flyers created some big chances and even opted to pull their goalie to give them a 6v4 advantage, but the move failed to pay off. 

Eventually, Joey Martin broke up the play in Devils zone and found Bentivoglio, who fired the puck into the empty net to make it 4-2.

Elite League fixtures on Friday: Belfast Giants v Glasgow Clan (7pm), Cardiff Devils v Guildford Flames (7.30pm).

Match stats (Fife v Cardiff):

Scorers, Flyers: Flyers: Marcus Basara 1+1, Joe Basaraba 1+1, Carlo Finucci 0+1, James Isaacs 0+1.

Devils: Evan Mosey 1+1, Layne Ulmer 1+1, Gleason Fournier1+0, Sean Bentivoglio 1+0, Joey Martin 0+2, Matthew Myers 0+1, Mark Louis 0+1, Michael Hedden 0+1, Mark Richardson 0+1.

Period scores (Flyers first): 0-1; 1-0 (1-1); 1-3 (2-4).

Shots on goal: Flyers (on Bowns) 6+11+6=23;Devils (on Owen) 11+13+25=39.

Penalties in minutes: Flyers 2+-0+0=2; Devils 4+2+4-10.

Special teams: Flyers PK 0/1, PP 0/5; Devils PK 5/5, PP 1/1.

Men of the match: Flyers, Marcus Basara; Devils, Layne Ulmer.

Referees: Stefan Hogarth and Allan Ward.

Attendance: 954.

Elite League fixtures

Friday, March 8: Belfast Giants v Glasgow Clan (7pm), Cardiff Devils v Guildford Flames (7.30pm).

Saturday, March 9: Milton Keynes Lightning v Coventry Blaze (7pm), Nottingham Panthers v Dundee Stars (7pm), Sheffield Steelers v Fife Flyers (7pm).

Sunday, March 10: Dundee Stars v Manchester Storm (5pm), Coventry Blaze v Milton Keynes Lightning (5.15pm), Fife Flyers v Sheffield Steelers (6.30pm).

Sunday, March 10: Challenge Cup final, Belfast Giants v Guildford Flames at the Viola Arena, Cardiff Bay (4pm).

Tickets for the Challenge Cup Final are still available here.

Cardiff Devils 

Remaining 8 Elite League fixtures

Four home, four away

March

Friday 8 v Guildford Flames (home, 7.30pm)

Saturday 16 v Sheffield Steelers (away, 7pm)

Sunday 17 v Glasgow Clan (home, 6pm)

Wednesday 20 v Glasgow Clan (away, 7.30pm)

Saturday 23 v Manchester Storm (home, 7pm)

Sunday 24 v Dundee Stars (away, 5pm)

Saturday 30 v MK Lightning (home, 7pm)

Sunday 31 v Coventry Blaze (away, 5.15pm)

 

For Devils home tickets CLICK HERE TO BOOK ONLINE or CALL 0800 0842 666

CLICK HERE to be redirected to the full fixtures list.

https://twitter.com/cardiffdevils/status/1103932750300508160

ELITE ICE HOCKEY LEAGUE 2018/19

TEAM	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	PIM	STREAK
Cardiff Devils	52	38	8	6	82	.788	208	132	597	4-0
Belfast Giants	52	38	12	2	78	.750	200	129	647	1-0
Glasgow Clan	53	30	18	5	65	.613	189	161	664	0-1
Nottingham Panthers	54	26	18	10	62	.574	166	170	878	1-0
Guildford Flames	53	27	21	5	59	.557	171	161	638	1-0
Fife Flyers	51	25	20	6	56	.549	165	172	702	0-2
Sheffield Steelers	54	26	25	3	55	.509	160	186	797	0-1
Manchester Storm	53	23	25	5	51	.481	156	183	1094	0-1
Dundee Stars	51	19	20	12	50	.490	144	174	512	1-0
Coventry Blaze	50	21	22	7	49	.490	175	193	661	0-4
Milton Keynes Lightning	51	14	33	4	32	.314	126	199	877	1-0