Devils grab late winner to beat Panthers
Photo: James Assinder
Cardiff Devils scored with 66 seconds remaining to edge past Nottingham Panthers with a 3-2 victory in an enthralling game at a sold-out Vindico Arena.
"It was good, we knew this was a big game for our team and I just wanted to bring everything I could. It was a great effort by the whole team, we stuck with it and found a way to win," Tyler Busch levelled the game inside the final ten minutes before the Devils won it late. "We knew we had to be hungry on that powerplay, we have confidence in it and it was a great boost for the team."
An end to end first period saw a range of opportunities for both teams. Nottingham saw an early penalty kill after Matt Alfaro picked himself up two minutes for an interference call 10:30 into the period, but the Panthers were able to successfully deny any goalscoring chances. Reid Duke found the opening goal of the night after Tyler Busch stole the puck as the Panthers tried to break out of their zone, and fed it to Duke for a neat finish in front at 14:11. The Panthers' first powerplay of the game saw them very much on the front foot but without being able to find an equaliser.
The Panthers carried that momentum from the back of the first period into the second. Just 3:32 into the period, Kristoff Kontos found a huge interception in the Devils end which allowed the visitors to construct a nice tic-tac-toe play with Mitchell Fossier feeding Kristoff Kontos to set up captain Sam Herr for the equaliser.
Minutes later Sam Herr once again, found himself in a 1-on-1 against Carruth. Fortunately for the Devils, Mac Carruth was able to shut down the opportunity. Despite Cardiff’s best attempts, the scoreline remained 1-1 as the period came to a close. The Devils had looked leggy for large parts of the middle frame, but at push towards the end brought them and the home crowd to life.
Having been on the back foot in period towm the Devils came out on the front in the third and drew Ryan Bednard into a couple good early saves to keep the game level. The Panthers then struck on the counter attack through Tim Doherty with one of their only real chances of the opening phases, timed at 48:48.
19 seconds later, the Devils thought they'd hit straight back as a loose puck went in off the skate of Josh MacDonald. The goal was reviewed for a kicking motion, and disallowed despite it also then hitting Matt Spencer on its way to the net. The IIHF rulebook is clear on this situation:
A goal cannot be scored on a play where an attacking Player propels the puck with their skate into the net (even by means of a subsequent deflection off another Player, unless from a stick of a skater) using a “distinct kicking motion”.
The home crowd didn't like the call, but it lifted the noise level in the building. There was further drama when Jason Grande had to enter the Panthers net as Bednard needed to leave the ice, and only 24 seconds after coming on the new goalie was beaten - Tyler Busch fired home on a 2-on-1 rush after the Panthers lost the puck in the offensive zone.
With 2:14 to play, Spencer was called for a slashing minor and the Devils pushed for a winner. A Cody Donaghey pass from the slot low to Zach O'Brien fed Brett Perlini in the slot to fire home and put the Devils ahead with 66 seconds remaining. The Panthers called a timeout immediately, and pulled Grande with 42 seconds left, but came closer to conceding on the empty net than they did finding a way past Carruth in the final stages.
"It’ll be nice to get a full week of practice. We’ve been going pretty hard the past 10 days but then we have two very tough teams on the road next week. Hopefully we can get a few guys back" concluded Busch.
