Devils too strong for Steelers again

Photo: James Assinder

Cardiff Devils logged their third straight home win over Sheffield Steelers this season, and second in the league, with a 5-1 win over last season's grand slam champions.

"I think our line was hard on the forecheck and created a lot of turnovers, creating some good opportunities tonight," said Ben Davies who had a goal and an assist in the game for the Devils. "It was a solid performance up and down the line-up tonight.

"The crowd were in the game in a big way, we got a couple of quick goals and they were really loud. It helped us to build momentum through the game and we appreciate them being there for us."

A fierce first period saw both teams have their fair share of goal-scoring opportunities in the early stages, but with neither side breaking the deadlock. However, the Devils were able to put themselves in the lead at 9:11 into the period after Josh MacDonald broke through and beat Matt Greenfield with a neat finish after drawing the goalie with a deke. Less than a minute later, a mix-up behind the Steelers net saw Greenfield lose the puck to Riley Brandt who then fed Tyler Busch in front to double the lead.

The Devils were unlucky not to be three ahead with some other excellent chances in the period, but were equally lucky to escape two ahead as the Steelers draw Ben Bowns into two big saves before the buzzer.

17 seconds into period two, Joey Martin found himself in all kinds of space in the slot to put home a Reid Duke feed.  Some great teamwork from Ben Davies, Sam Duggan and Riley Brandt set up the Devils fourth at 34:20, before Kohen Olischefski tipped a Cole Sanford feed past Greenfield 18 seconds later to make it 5-0 and end Greenfield's night in net.

Sheffiled broke Ben Bowns' shutout with 8:41 to play through Max Golod, but that was as good as it got for the visitors who fell to their third straight league defeat.