Carr shuts out Devils for road win
Photo: James Assinder/David Williams
It was a matter of inches for both clubs as the Cardiff Devils hosted the Nottingham Panthers in a spirited Saturday night match-up. A three-goal third period saw the visitors skate away with the win as the hosts were blanked by Kevin Carr who received man-of-the-match honors with a 29-save shutout.
Both sides favoured a physical game in the early going and as the tempo picked up, some undisciplined play landed each club on the powerplay. The Panthers went up a man first but had a hard time finding their footing with the man-advantage. The hosts were a bit more dangerous with their extra-attacker, however, each side weathered the storm as some solid penalty killing from both clubs left the score unchanged after one.
Second period action began with the Devils heading to the penalty box almost immediately. Despite being down a man, it would be Cardiff who would have a golden chance shorthanded when Josh Lammon skated in all alone against Kevin Carr who, as he would do all night long, denied the chance.
Carr again played the perfect foil to the hosts who went on the man-advantage following their successful penalty kill. With the Welsh side on the powerplay, the Canadian netminder continued his excellent play stonewalling every shot as both sides were searching for their first tally.
In an unfortunate turn of events, play stopped for some time in the second when, 14 minutes in, Kevin Domingue left the game after taking a heavy hit. Domingue suffered an ankle injury and was helped off the ice as both sides took time to make sure the 25-year-old was taken care of before resuming play.
The second would end as it began with the score still knotted leaving plenty to play for in the third.
To the dismay of the home crowd, it would be the Panthers who would break the deadlock just over three minutes into the third. Oliver Betteridge fired one off the faceoff beating Carruth cleanly to open the scoring.
The Devils had their chances landing two powerplays in the final frame, but their failure to execute left them chasing the lead with time winding down.
Cardiff’s fate was all but sealed when a late penalty by Mark Louis at 57:35 put the hosts’ chances of a comeback on ice. In a last-ditch effort Carruth was pulled in favour of the extra attacker, but a gift from the hosts gave the visitors a two-goal cushion when Simon Suoranta hit an empty-netter. Seconds later, Christophe Boivin put the exclamation point on a perfect road performance, wristing one top shelf on the breakaway to leave the score 3-0.
