Devils get needed win over Steelers

Photo: James Assinder

Cardiff Devils had to beat Sheffield on Saturday night if they are to have any chance of cutting the Steelers' lead down at the top of the table, and they did so in front of a sold-out Vindico Arena.

Sheffield had the better of the opening chances in and around Ben Bowns, but went ahead on the rush. Evan Mosey pinched in and didn’t get the puck ,allowing the Steelers to break down the ice. While the attack didn’t immediately lead to a goal, the puck was worked eventually to Dominic Cormier to slap past Bowns at 9:27. Exactly four minutes later, the Devils did well to keep the puck in the attacking zone, and then Cole Ully’s shot was stopped by Matt Greenfield straight into the path of Jamie Arniel to level things at 13:27.

7:25 into period two, Ryan Barrow tipped a Cody Donaghey slapshot past Greenfield to put the Devils ahead, with the play coming directly off Arniel's faceoff win. That lead was one the Devils held into the break but only thanks to an excellent point-blank save from Bowns with four minutes left in the period, denying Daniel Ciampini at the top of the crease.

Bowns pulled off another excellent save to deny the Steelers tying the game with 9:53 to go in period three as he stuck his glove out to prevent a Robert Dowd tip from finding the back of his net - not dissimilar to the excellent save Greenfield made in Guildford last weekend. Aaron Fox called his timeout with 2:07 to play and pulled Greenfield for the extra skater, but the gamble backfired 28 seconds later when Trevor Cox found the empty net after chasing the puck into the Steelers' zone. Cole Ully added another empty netter at 58:48 to wrap up a 4-1/win for the Devils, although the Steelers remain 12 points clear at the top.