Jake Morissette played a captain’s role for Cardiff Devils in their crucial Elite League ice hockey clash with Coventry Blaze at the Skydome.
‘Mo’ scored twice, including the winner, on a night when Belfast Giants were thrashed 8-0 by Sheffield Steelers.
For the second night in a row Devils skated to victory against Coventry Blaze to make it a four-point weekend.
They won 2-1 at home with Patrick Asselin firing the winner and 3-2 away.
Devils were not at their best on either night against a skilled and well organised Blaze team, but they have a winner’s instinct.
Head coach Andrew Lord and his team are able to grind out wins at the right times – and that showed in another efficient performance.
Devils now travel to play Sheffield Steelers in the Challenge Cup semi-final first leg on Wednesday before they take on huge matches against Belfast Giants on Friday, September 2 and Saturday, September 3.
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Those two fixtures are crucial in the Elite League title chase.
A dominating first period at Coventry’s Skydome home on Sunday evening saw the Devils outshoot their opponents 16-9 and score twice to lead 2-0.
The first goal was scored by Morissette on the powerplay at eight minutes 11 seconds with Joey Martin and Bryce Reddick on the assists.
Asselin made it 2-0 when he took a pass from Sean Bentivoglio to score past Kevin Nastiuk and double the Devils lead.
Blaze pulled one back when Ryan Dingle set up Marc-Olivier Vallerand just over three minutes into the second period, while the game was tied at the halfway point when Dingle scored.
The teams traded powerplay chances in the first half of the final period, but neither team could break the deadlock.
Then, with Vallerand in the box for tripping, Devils powerplay went to work with chance after chance only to be turned away by Kevin Nastiuk in net for the Blaze.
The powerplay was barely expired and the Blaze player just getting back into the play, when Joey Martin and Layne Ulmer set up Morissette in front of the goal for his second goal of the game at 50-12 to give the Devils a 3-2 lead.
A late penalty taken by Asselin gave the Blaze a powerplay with four minutes left, but Devils penalty-killing unit was perfect on the night led by some monster saves from Ben Bowns to secure the win.
Martin picked up two assists and Bowns made 28 saves for the win.
An impressive four-point weekend for the Devils who stay top of the Elite League standings.
Match stats:
Scorers, Blaze: Marc-Olivier Vellerand 1+0, Ryan Dingle 1+1, Brett Robinson 0+1, Danick Paquette 0+1.
Devils: Jake Morissette 2+0, Patrick Asselin 1+0, Layne Ulmer 0+1, Joey Martin 0+2, Bryce Reddick 0+1, Sean Bentivoglio 0+1.
Period scores (Blaze first): 0-2; 2-0 (2-2); 0-1 (2-3).
Shots on goal: Devils (on Nastiuk) 16+10+15=41; Blaze (on Bowns) 9+12+9=30.
Penalties in minutes: Blaze 6+2+56=64; Devils 0+4+6=10.
Powerplays: Blaze 0/4; Devils 1/6.
Attendance: 2,174
Referee: Tom Pering and Stefan Hogarth
Stars of the game: Devils, Joey Haddad; Blaze, Kevin Nastiuk.
Other Sunday Elite League results: Edinburgh Capitals 3, Dundee Stars 6; Fife Flyers 3, Nottingham Panthers 2; Guildford Flames 3, Milton Keynes Lightning 2; Manchester Storm 5, Braehead Clan 2; Sheffield Steelers 8, Belfast Giants 0.
Belfast’s title hopes took another hit on Sunday night, going down 8-0 against rivals Sheffield in South Yorkshire.
With both sides looking to bounce back from defeat on Saturday night, it was hosts Sheffield who seized an early advantage thanks to Liam Kirk’s fifth minute goal.
Ben O’Connor doubled the advantage 26 seconds later before Scott Aarssen set up Levi Nelson with the third a minute later.
Shorthanded goals from Andreas Jamtin and O’Connor either side of the first period extended the Steelers lead before Matt Marquardt added a powerplay goal just over 90 seconds into the final 20 minutes.
A third shorthanded goal of the night for the Steelers, scored by captain Jonathan Phillips, heaped further misery on the Giants before Marquardt made it eight with his second 50 seconds from the end