Second period powers Devils past Panthers
Photo: James Assinder
A five-goal burst in the second period helped Cardiff Devils come from a goal behind to beat Nottingham Panthers 5-2 at Ice Arena Wales.
With Mark Louis taking an early slashing call the Panthers took the lead with 3:43 gone in period one thanks to Ollie Betteridge wristing home from the top of the circle past Mac Carruth. The Devils struggled to get much going in the open period, but the main talking point was Brandon McNally and Mathieu Tousignant dropping the gloves - the former was ejected for leaving the bench.
The Devils were level 2:18 into period two through Brodie Reid on a rebound from his own shot. Mark Richardson tapped home at the back post after a nice deke from Matt Register to make it 2-1 at 25:49 before the Devils went on to hit two in 17 seconds. Cole Sanford finished after two Devils shots were blocked by Panthers defensemen at 28:48, followed by Trevor Cox fired into a half-empty cage from Jake Coughler's feed - a goal upheld after video review to check for goalie interference.
Justin Crandall had an open net to aim at after the Devils turned the puck over on the blueline, and Stephen Dixon made a nice spin to pull Carr over one side and set up the easy finish with 31 seconds left in the period,
Period three was a less intense affair although the game did get chippy in the closing phases. The Devils didn't find any further ways past Kevin Carr, while the Panthers did manage another goal inside the final minute through interim coach Mark Matheson. Edwin Hedberg was awarded a late penalty shot but couldn't beat Carruth.
The win keeps the Devils second while Nottingham are now only three points above sixth-placed Coventry having played four more games.