Cardiff Devils are second in Elite League after their 4-2 home win against Guildford Flames at Ice Arena Wales.
They made hard work of their fourth successive victory after opening a three-goal lead against Flames, but had the character and spirit to earn a crucial victory in Cardiff Bay.
Flames have an abundance of speed and quality in a team who will give Devils plenty of problems when they meet in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals.
Devils came out on top in this League clash and now go to Nottingham on Saturday where they play leaders Panthers (7pm).
That is another critical match in their quest to win the League title for a second successive season.
Mark Louis, Justin Faryna, Josh Batch and Craig Moore were again ruled out of the Devils team by injuries with Luke Piggott and Toms Rutkiss completing the British contingent for the home team.
Devils ran into penalty trouble and lost the grip they had taken on the match against Flames.
Bryce Reddick (6-34) and Paul Crowder (10-50) gave Devils a 2-0 lead before Layne Ulmer added a third goal after 23-59.
At that stage Devils were in command, but referee Tom Darnell became the central figure in the match, at least in the eyes of home fans, as the home team were given 32 penalty minutes over the first two period.
Darnell also awarded Devils a 5v3 powerplay which they failed to take advantage of, but Cardiff spent too long on the penalty kill.
Kruise Reddick (35-01) and Brett Ferguson (37-43) scored for Flames and suddenly Devils were looking tense at 3-2 ahead.
An error by Drew Paris with five minutes left put Devils under pressure when he lifted the puck over the PlexiGlass and earned a two minute delay of game penalty.
Player-coach Andrew Lord and his team killed that off and went into the final three minutes clinging on to a one-goal lead.
Cardiff-born Ben Davies eased the tension when he picked up a penalty for charging and handed Devils a powerplay opportunity.
When Davies returned, Flames pulled their netminder Chris Carozzi, and captain Jake Morissette sealed Devils win with an empty net goal 24 seconds from the end.
Man of the match Morissette’s first shot was blocked by a Flames stick, but he stayed calm, skated behind the net to retrieve the puck and back out to sweep a close range shot into the net.
That closed out a 4-2 win for the home team and clinched a fourth successive victory.
Match stats:
Period scores (Devils first): 2-0; 1-2 (3-2); 0-1 (2-4).
Shots on goal: Devils (on Carozzi) 10+7+7=24; Flames (on Bowns) 9+14+9=32.
Powerplays: Devils 1/6, Flames 2/8.
Scorers, Devils: Bryce Reddick 1+0, Paul Crowder 1+0, Layne Ulmer 1+0, Jake Morissette 1+0, Matt Pope 0+2, Joey Haddad 0+1, Patrick Asselin 0+1, Andrew Hotham 0+1, Gleason Fournier 0+1.
Flames: Kruise Reddick 1+0, Brett Ferguson 1+0, Calle Akcered 0+1, Rhett Rachinski 0+1, John Dunbar 0+1.
Penalties in minutes: Devils 16+16+6=38; Flames 4+2+4=10.
Stars of the game: Devils, Jake Morissette; Flames, Brett Ferguson.
Referee: Tom Darnell.
Attendance: 2,822.