Cardiff Devils 5, Manchester Storm 3
Cardiff Devils earned a storming Elite League victory at Ice Arena Wales.
They showed the character and spirit of champions when they battled back to win from two goals down for a second successive match.
They followed a 4-3 win in Nottingham with a gutsy showing against a Storm team who had won 3-2 on their last visit to Cardiff Bay.
Joey Martin, Andrew Lord, Joey Haddad, Layne Ulmer and Chris Culligan scored the Devils goals to keep Cardiff top of league.
They now turn to Wednesday’s Challenge Cup semi-final second leg tie against Belfast Giants in Northern Ireland.
First period
Devils outshot their visitors 11-7 in the first period, but still fell two goals behind.
Jack Prince netted a soft goal after only 53 seconds, while Matt Bissonette made it 2-0 on 18-18 to leave Cardiff facing a second successive difficult match.
They had trailed 3-1 at Nottingham the pervious evening before winning and left themselves again needing a comeback.
Jake Morissette, who has had ankle surgery, was again on the bench alongside coach Jamie Elson with head coach Lord on the ice.
Second period
Martin, on the powerplay, and Lord led the charge when Devils netted twice in 75 seconds. Martin fired home on the powerplay with assists for Layne Ulmer and Andrew Hotham (26-41) with Lord scoring to make it 2-2.
Andrew Hotham again provided an assist with David Brine also helping to set up the goal.
Cardiff again outshot their visitors, this time 15-8, but the home team still looked frail defensively at times and Bissonette fired Storm ahead again after 29-06.
Third period
Haddad fired up the atmosphere with a magnificent third goal for Devils to tie the match at 44-36.
Scott Hotham and Gleason Fournier worked the opening and when ‘Hoth’ fired the puck at goal it was Haddad who tipped it in with a beautifully timed touch in front of the netminder.
Devils fans were in full voice, roaring their team on and the home players took the game to Storm.
Ulmer struck with Cardiff’s fourth goal on 51-30. The feed from Patrick Asselin was impeccable and Ulmer finished clinically in front of the net.
Storm pulled their netminder and threw on an extra skater with well over a minute left in a desperate bid to score a fourth, but Devils made it 5-3 when Culligan scored from a Martin pass on 59-07.
Match stats:
Scorers, Devils: Joey Martin 1+1, Andrew Lord 1+0, Joey Haddad 1+0, Layne Ulmer 1+1, Chris Culligan 1+0, Andrew Hotham 0+2, Patrick Asselin 0+1, Mark Richardson 0+1, David Brine 0+1, Gleason Fournier 0+1, Scott Hotham 0+1, .
Storm: Matt Bissonette 2+0, Jack Prince 1+0, Eric Neilson 0+2, Omar Pacha 0+2, Daren Dziurzynski 0+1, Mario Trebucco 0+1.
Period scores (Devils first): 0-2; 2-1 (2-3); 2-0 (4-3).
Penalties in minutes: Devils 2+0+2=4; Storm 2+6+4=12.
Referee: Dean Smith.
Men of the match: Devils, Andrw Lord; Storm, Matt Bissonette.