Steelers 6 Devils 2
Period 1
SHE Tim Wallace (short handed) (Joonas Ronnberg) 5:23
SHE Scott Aarssen (Miika Franssila, Eric Neiley) 6:26
CAR Matt Pope (power play) (Joey Martin, Jake Morissette) 7:31
SHE Ben O Connor (Andreas Valdix, David Phillips) 15:54
Period 2
SHE Mathieu Roy (power play) (Eric Neiley, Ben O Connor) 1:25
SHE Matt Marquardt (Levi Nelson, Mark Matheson) 15:40
Period 3
SHE Levi Nelson (Jonathan Phillips, Mark Matheson) 7:58
CAR Joey Haddad (short handed) (unassisted) 14:47
SoG 40-29 Devils … Power Play 1/5 … Penalty Kill 3/4
The Cardiff Devils will have their work cut out in next week’s second leg. They went down 6-2 to the Sheffield Steelers.
The Steelers will travel to Wales for the return leg with a four goal lead; they led 5-1 at the close of the second period with both teams adding another in the third.
Steelers goalie Ervins Mustukovs was named as the winning teams’ Man of the Match. The Latvian, who leads the league in GAA, stopped 38 of 40 shots.
The Devils were also denied by the frame of the goal, striking the iron on three separate occasions when it seemed Mustukovs was beaten.
The Devils fell behind shortly after Joey Martin had fired the puck against the crossbar with the Devils on the power play. As Sheffield rode their luck, they then notched a shorthanded goal with Tim Wallace beating Ben Bowns shortside.
That lead would be doubled six minutes later when Scott Aarssen fired a one-timer from the blueline with Bowns sighted.
Matt Pope scored from low down to get the Devils on the board with a power play goal to make it 3-1. But Sheffield closed out the opening period with Ben O’Connor restoring Sheffield’s three-goal lead.
A further two unanswered goals gave Sheffield a 5-1 lead in the second period as Mustukovs prevented the Devils from reducing the deficit.
Andrew Hotham’s shot hit the frame of the goal as the Devils attempted to force their way into the game in the final frame but a sixth goal for the Steelers followed when Levi Nelson slide in Phillips’ cross-crease pass after a video review, in what was one of just four shots on goal in the final period for the home team.
Joey Martin would strike the iron for a second time and the Devils went on to claim a shorthanded goal of their own, when the Steelers were unable to get bodies back and Joey Haddad was allowed to turn and fire in a wrist shot unassisted, making it 6-2.
Verdict: A long night for the Devils but they just didn’t get the breaks despite extended spells of pressure. Felt they missed Gleason Fournier on the power play tonight and given on how strong the team have been this season the semi-final is still within grasp – just.
Up Next: @ Belfast Giants, Fri 2nd; @ Belfast Giants, Sat 3rd.
Hockey Night in Wales 