Two of the best ice hockey teams in Britain went toe-to-toe in Cardiff Bay and Devils left Elite League leaders Fife Flyers down and out.
Head coach Andrew Lord’s Cardiff Devils enjoyed a hugely successful weekend, scoring 14 goals in total during wins against Sheffield Steelers (7-1) and Elite League leaders Flyers (7-2).
The Scottish visitors arrived in South Wales with an unbeaten League record and all but one of those wins had come in regulation time.
Flyers, though, could not match the fluency, offensive potency and teamwork of the best Devils team I’ve seen in 25 years reporting on the club.
The most talented @cardiffdevils team I've seen in 32 years. Honour to watch players of this talent level play for my club.
— John Donovan (@JD38_cardiff) October 21, 2018
Man of the match Joey Martin and Sean Bentivoglio both scored two goals and added two assists each, while Ben Blood, Joey Haddad and Gleason Fournier were the other scorers.
Devils outshot Flyers 40-19 and, on a frustrating night for coach Todd Dutiaume and his players, the Scots had Rick Pinkston thrown out on a 2+10+game penalty after being called for hooking and then verbally abusing the officials.
Devils started the ‘We’re Gonna Win’ music with two minutes 19 seconds to play and the score 7-1. Flyers pulled a goal back from an Evan Bloodoff penalty shot, but Flyers set off on the long coach journey home having been thoroughly outplayed.
Guildford Flames are the next team to visit Ice Arena Wales on Saturday for a Challenge Cup group match. Devils are already through to the knockout stages with two fixtures to play.
That 4 point weekend feeling 😈 pic.twitter.com/ph7CUXObek
— Cardiff Devils (@cardiffdevils) October 21, 2018
Devils scored four goals in five minutes at the end of the second period, leaving Flyers gasping in disbelief.
Bentivoglio opened the scoring at six minutes seven seconds with a perfect shot past goalie Shane Owen and Devils’ second saw the Flyers defence pulled apart.
The passing move and accuracy of the home team left Fife chasing shadows before Fournier picked out Martin at the far post for a tap-in from close range at 9-26.
Flyers pulled one back with a minute left in the period when Mike Cazzola found a way past netminder Ben Bowns to make it 2-1 and that gave the visitors hope.
That was extinguished in the last five minutes of the middle period when Devils hit four unanswered goals to see out the period.
Blood blasted home a slap shot from just inside the Flyers zone at 34-58 and then, 90 seconds later, Martin scored his second of the game to put the Devils 4-1 ahead.
Devils netted again 34 seconds later when Bentivoglio feed his second (36-59) and Haddad batted in a loose puck (39-03) to give the home team a commanding 6-1 lead.
They made it 7-1 when Fournier found the back of the net at 46-00 and the home side were in cruise control for the final 10 minutes of the game.
With less than 90 seconds left Bloodoff was awarded a penalty shot and he deked on Thomas Murdy to give the Flyers their second goal and round out the scoring at 7-2. but Devils had already been playing ‘We’re Gonna Win’ for almost a minute.
Match stats:
Scorers, Devils: Sean Bentivoglio 2+2, Joey Martin 2+2, Ben Blood 1+0, Joey Haddad 1+0, Gleason Fournier 1+1, Mark Richardson 0+2, Charles Linglet 0+1, Mike Hadden 0+1, Matt Pope 0+1, Jake Morissette 0+12, Layne Ulmer 0+2,
Flyers: Mike Cazzola 1+0, Evan Bloodoff 1+0, Brett Bulmer 0+1, Carlo Finucci 0+1.
Period scores (Devils first): 2-1; 4-0 (6-1); 1-1 (7-2).
Shots on goal: Devils (on Owen) 13+13+14=40; Flyers (on Bowns/Murdy) 5+6+8=19.
Penalties in minutes: Devils 0+2+2=4; Flyers 4+2+34=40
Special teams: Devils PK 2/2, PP 1/6; Flyers 5/6, PP 0/2.
Stars of the game: Devils, Joey Martin; Flyers, Evan Bloodoff.
Referees: Dean Smith, Matt Rose.
Attendance: 2,924.
Dominant display by the @cardiffdevils this weekend. Every player has bought in. Beautiful to watch and a credit to @AndrewLord17 and every player. One game at a time.
— Steve King (@Tacosteve10) October 21, 2018
Next three Devils fixtures
October
Saturday 27 home v Guildford Flames (7pm, Challenge Cup)
Sunday 28 away v Coventry Blaze (5.15pm, Challenge Cup)
Wednesday 31 v Glasgow Clan (away, Elite League)
Tickets are on sale now.
CLICK HERE TO BOOK ONLINE or CALL 0800 0842 666 to book
CLICK HERE to be redirected to the full fixtures list.
ELITE ICE HOCKEY LEAGUE 2018/19
| TEAM | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | PCT | GF | GA | PIM | STREAK |
| Fife Flyers | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 17 | .850 | 46 | 31 | 134 | 0-1 |
| Belfast Giants | 11 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 16 | .727 | 44 | 24 | 140 | 7-0 |
| Cardiff Devils | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 16 | .889 | 46 | 17 | 83 | 6-0 |
| Nottingham Panthers | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 16 | .571 | 46 | 48 | 208 | 0-3 |
| Coventry Blaze | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 11 | .611 | 30 | 28 | 123 | 2-0 |
| Glasgow Clan | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 10 | .500 | 29 | 34 | 118 | 0-1 |
| Manchester Storm | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 10 | .417 | 34 | 39 | 248 | 0-1 |
| Guildford Flames | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 8 | .444 | 30 | 30 | 117 | 0-3 |
| Sheffield Steelers | 13 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 8 | .308 | 30 | 52 | 222 | 1-0 |
| Dundee Stars | 11 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 8 | .364 | 27 | 38 | 152 | 0-7 |
| Milton Keynes Lightning | 10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 6 | .300 | 19 | 40 | 223 | 0-2 |