Devils up by two after first leg

Photo: James Assinder

Both Cardiff Devils and Dundee Stars will go into the second leg of their Quarter-Final series believing they can make the Playoff Finals Weekend after the Devils took a 4-2 win in the first leg at a sold-out building in South Wales.

Dundee came closest to opening the scoring early with a shot coming back off the frame of Ben Bowns’ net as the visitors started well. A good save by Bowns at one end led to the Devils rushing down the ice and going ahead through Sam Duggan with 2:23 left in the opening period.

Ryan Valentini crashed a slap-shot past Bowns 54 seconds into period two to level the game, but the Devils hit back 33 seconds later on the rush with the returning Tyler Busch putting home a loose puck of his own pass. 6:16 into the period, Jake Elmer was left all alone in front of Ben Bowns to calmly deke and put the puck home and tie the game once again. Cardiff found themselves ahead at the break thanks to Bode Wilde's shot through traffic with 6:47 left in the period.

Busch added his second of the night to put the Devils 4-2 ahead 100 seconds into the final period. Having seen over 200 penalty minutes in the three games between the teams at the Vindico Arena already this season, it was no surprise that the third was a feisty one. Lucas Brine, man of the match for the Stars, ended on 29 saves for the game, one more than Bowns, as both goalies made good saves to prevent further scoring.

The Stars will have to overturn a two-goal aggregate score if they'e to advance, while the Devils have that cushion heading into Sunday's game back in Dundee.