Devils respond with win in Dundee
Photo: Derek Black
Cardiff Devils responded to Saturday night's home defeat by Manchester with a 5-2 road win in Dundee, leaving the Stars with no wins from three games in Week 15.
"I thought we played pretty well, we're short a couple bodies so we had short shifts but everyone bought into the system and that's where we find most of our success," said Devils forward Josh MacDonald.
"When we're playing the system and everyone's buying in we're having a lot of success. You can't really take your foot off, you have to play every night, there's no getting comfortable saying we're in a playoff spot. The big one's the league, you have to play hard every night whether you're at home or on the road so just have to dig deep and find a way to win"
Dundee got on the board early in a high scoring opening period, as Zach Tsekos made it 1-0 at 02:51. Spencer Naas picked up the puck behind the Cardiff net, and sent a pass to Tsekos in the high slot who fired it past Ben Bowns.
The Devils responded straight away, equalising just 17 seconds later at 03:08 after Josh MacDonald tipped Evan Mosey’s shot from the point past Jarrett Fiske.
An extended corner battle in the Dundee zone allowed Kohen Olischefski to find himself alone in front of the Stars net at 05:16, with the Canadian beating Fiske with a slap shot to give the Devils their first lead of the night.
Philippe Sanche levelled the score at 07:12, receiving a pass from Drydn Dow and beating Bowns with a wrist shot down low to make it 2-2.
The visitors once again re-gained the lead at 15:56, as Gleason Fournier skated the puck deep into the offensive zone and sent the puck to Brett Perlini, who beat Fiske with a slap shot from the slot.
Josh MacDonald converted on the first Devil power play of the evening, scoring his second goal of the period at 18:35 with a wrist shot from the blue line through traffic that found the back of the net and made it 4-2.
A scoreless second period saw solid chances on each ends of the ice, as the two teams came close to finding the back of the net. Evan Mosey and Tyler Busch both hit the post of the Dundee net, while the Stars had a few high danger chances that nearly ended up in the Cardiff goal. Despite this, Jarrett Fiske and Ben Bowns stood tall, and the scoreline remained 4-2 heading into the third period.
Having survived some early penalties the Starts were still within two heading into the final minute. Fiske was pulled with 52 seconds to go, but just 11 seconds later Riley Brant found the empty net to round off the win for the Devils.
