Devils double up on 5-1 wins

Photo: James Assinder

Cardiff Devils recorded their second 5-1 win in 24 hours with a home victory over Fife Flyers at the Vindico Arena.

Both sides weren’t short of chances in the opening 20 minutes, but the first period ended with just one goal between the teams. Zach O’Brien was the scorer of the only goal, getting on the end of an Andrew MacWilliam shot that was deflected en route to Shane Owen, and neatly deking past the Flyers’ goalie.

Fife should have been level shorthanded but failed to capitalize on both a 2-on-0 and a 2-on-1 while killing. Joey Martin could just as easily have doubled the home side’s lead but Owen denied him on a shorthanded breakaway.

As they had done in the first period, the Devils struck inside five minutes of the second to extend their advantage. Josh Batch, playing as a forward, found Sam Duggan in the slot with enough space to set himself for a top-shelf finish that Owen had no chance of stopping. The hosts could, and probably should, have added more to their tally but Owen kept his team in the game through the next five minutes. Fife offered very little in the way of attacking threat in the period, struggling to get anything going on the powerplay and were fortunate to only be two behind after 40 minutes.

O'Brien's fancy hands saw him make it 3-0 2:05 into period three as the Devils took full control. Lucas Chiodo one-timed Daniel Krenželok's feed into the net to break Ben Bowns' shutout with 9:38 to play, but two quick goals from Josh MacDonald, and then a loose puck that snuck past Owen credited to Tyler Busch wrapped up a 5-1 win for the Devils to follow the same scoreline as their victory in Manchester on Friday night.