Canadian Matt Pope struck gold for Cardiff Devils in their 1-0 Elite League win against Braehead Clan in Glasgow.
Former Hershey Bears forward Pope scored the only goal of the match against Clan and extended Cardiff’s lead at the top of the table.
Drew Paris, Andrew Lord and Craig Moore were left out of the Devils team, while Josh Batch continued his comeback from injury,
Justin Faryna, Paul Crowder and Joey Haddad were the first line out on a difficult night for the Devils.
Lord’s men, though, are fighting for success and returned home from Glasgow with two points.
Goalie Ben Bowns kept a fifth shutout of the season to lead the Devils to victory over against Clan.
Devils thought they had scored early in the third period when Bryce Reddick rattled the puck off the crossbar. A video review of the play confirmed it was no goal.
Midway through the period Clan thought they had scored, but a video review showed the puck had hit a post and the play was also ruled to be no goal.
The only goal was scored after 50-31 when the Devils powerplay finally broke the goalless tie. Clan’s Landon Oslanski was in the penalty box for tripping and Pope scored with the man advantage, set up by Joey Martin and Layne Ulmer.
Clan pulled netminder Ryan Nie for an extra attacker with less than a minute to play, but could not score the equaliser.
Devils held on for victory, extending their lead to three points over second-placed Belfast Giants.
Batch delayed the game for 10 minutes when he launched a huge, legal hit which smashed the PlexiGlass.
Devils are in action twice this weekend against the Coventry Blaze at home on Saturday (7pm) and away on Sunday (5.15pm).
Devils are at home against Coventry Blaze this Saturday and that match has been virtually a sell-out for two weeks.\The club are asking season ticket holders who cannot attend to let them know.
Devils are offering to buy back season ticket seats for £5 and sell it on to somebody looking to attend.
Those who have a ticket and cannot attend can email social@cardiffdevils.com with your full name and season ticket details (block, row, seat).
Devils will then be in touch to let you know we are going to sell your seats on and obtain bank details to make payment.
They are not looking for single seats, just two or more together.\Anybody still looking for seats together can register interest for seats by emailing social@cardiffdevils.com Those looking for a single seat should CLICK HERE to see where to find them.
Match stats:
Scorers, Clan: None.
Devils: Matt Pope 1+0, Joey Martin 0+1, Layne Ulmer 0+1.
Period scores (Clan first): 0-0; 0-0 (0-0); 0-1 (0-1).
Shots on goal: Clan (on Bowns) 11+6+1=18; Devils (on Nie) 8+13+8=29;
Powerplays: Clan 0/3; Devils 1/3.
Penalties in minutes: Clan 2+2+14=18; Devils 4+2+2=8.
Attendance: 2,755.
Referees: Toby Craig and Neil Wilson.
Stars of the game: Clan, Ryan Nie; Devils, Ben Bown.