Devils hold on for road win

Photo: Dean Woolley

Cardiff Devils inflicted Sheffield Steelers' first defeat of the season with a 3-2 win at the Utilita Arena in front of 7,106 fans on Sunday afternoon.

Marcus Crawford's shot from the point while Brett Neumann sat for slashing was deflected in front by Ryan Barrow to beat Matt Greenfield with 2:31 played. The Steelers won the resulting faceoff, but a turnover in their own end allowed Cole Ully to set up Jamie Arniel and double the Devils' lead just 10 seconds later. Cox could have had another a couple of minutes later but narrowly missed the top left corner of Greenfield's net, while Arniel had the best chance later in the period to further the Devils' lead but fired just wide. At the other end, Ben Bowns was needed for a couple of last ditch stops on loose pucks in the slot, but the Devils were rarely troubled in the opening period.

The hosts had a better start to period two, but only for a couple of minutes before they fell further behind - Ryan Barrow's second of the night off a smart pass from Tyler Busch at 23:53. Having survived a Marc-Olivier Vallerand Roughing minor, the Steelers got on the board with the puck eventually bounding in off Mikko Juusola at 27:34. The home side could have got further back into the game but let two powerplays pass by as the Devils ended the period two ahead.

Sheffield had two powerplay opportunities to try and get back to one behind at the beginning of period three, and eventually the pressure told with Josh Nicholls the scoters with 10:38 to play. The home side continued to throw pucks at Ben Bowns' net, but he was to stop all bar one of the 18 he faced in the final period. A late penalty on Matt Petgrave stifled the Steelers' pressure, but despite going 6-on-4 for the final 97 seconds there was to be no tying goal and the Devils took the points on the road.