Devils take cup win in Guildford

Photo: John Uwins

Cardiff Devils earned another much-needed Premier Sports Challenge Cup victory with a road win over Guildford Flames on Sunday night.

Cole Sanford opened the scoring off a rink-wide pass from Trevor Cox to give the visitors the lead just 79 seconds into the game, although Sam Marklund got the Flames level at 7:33. Cardiff would lead at the first intermission thanks to Ryan Penny's powerplay goal.

Turner Ripplinger pounded on a rebound to draw the Flames level 4:43 into period two, and by 35:06 the home side were in the lead thanks to Jordan Klimek. From the very next faceoff, Sanford batted in a rebound from a Joey Martin shot to tie things up again just 15 seconds later. Penny struck again at 38:02 to put the Welsh side back in the lead.

Sanford completed his hat trick, and then netted his fourth of the game, at 41:45 and 44:25 respectively to put the Devils in control. Peter Crinella pulled one back for the Flames with 3:12 to go, but Mark Louis rounded things off on the empty net at 58:41.