Devils in driving seat heading home

Photo: Scott Wiggins

Cardiff Devils will head back to Wales with a four-goal aggregate lead in their 2023 Viaplay Playoffs Quarter-Final against Coventry, beating the Blaze 5-1 in front of 2,347 fans at the Skydome.

The sides split the opening 20 minutes with a goal each in an evenly-matched first period. With 13:12 played, John Curran broke through the Devils lines and pulled a nice move to beat Ben Bowns and give Coventry the lead. Cardiff responded at 17:42 when a missed clearance from Alex Forbes landed straight on the stick of Brodie Reid to fire past Paavo Hölsä.

The start of period two was a disaster for the hosts, but an excellent one for the visitors. Joey Martin put the Devils 2-1 ahead 2:26 into the period, while just over two minutes later a superb Sam Duggan pass set up Josh Brittain for a deflection in front past Hölsä. Duggan capitalised on a mistake from the Blaze as they broke out in the neutral zone, allowing Josh Waller to beat Hölsä short-side and make exit 4-1. 

Trevor Cox added to the Blaze's woes with 3:26 left in the final period to give the Devils a four-goal cushion. Sunday's return leg at Ice Arena Wales will be shown live on Viaplay.