Three-goal first period wins it for Devils

Photo: James Assinder

Three goals inside the first 10 minutes of the game were enough to give Cardiff Devils a three-goal win over Belfast Giants on Friday night at a sold out Ice Arena Wales.

The Devils came flying out of the starting gate and raced into a lead they'd never give up in the rest of the game. Stefan Fournier batted the puck in off Giants' goalie Jackson Whistle from a Josh Brittain shot at 2:33 to open the scoring. Just over two minutes later, Whistle made an excellent save off a Josh Waller shot but could only put the rebound into the path of Brittain to double the home side's lead at 5:47.

Joey Martin poked in a rebound from a Marcus Crawford shot on the powerplay to make it 3-0 with only 9:03 played. Adam Keefe called his timeout after the goal and was visibly most unhappy with his team's start to the game.

The Giants came back into the game as the period wore on, and by the start of period two had begun to start controlling much of the play. Taran Kozun did his best to keep the visitors out, but was eventually beaten by an excellent bar-down shot form Will Cullen at 32:10. Whistle made a good save off Ben Davies as the period ticked down to keep the visitors only two behind.

Whistle was also there to stop the Devils going 4-1 up at the beginning of period three. The Giants' netminder was man of the match for his side, while his opposite number Kozun went on to make 40 saves and take the award for the Devils. Whistle was pulled with just over two minutes to play as the Giants looked for two goals in the closing stages, but Trevor Cox's empty net goal with 64 seconds to play settled the game.