Magnificent Seven v Devils: Match Report

Wednesday 19th February 2013 - Sheffield Steelers (22-14-4) v Cardiff Devils (21-20-1) @ Motorpoint Arena. Face off: 7:30pm

Sheffield at home to the Devils with two very important points at stake with second place to play for, Sheffield had to make it up to the fans for their performances in the challenge cup semi-finals and what a performance it was and didn't the players play the Steelers way!

Sheffield were without the injured Goertzen, Thomas and also Aaron Nell didn't ice but Mark Thomas was on the bench playing coach and wow didn't he do well, Cardiff were also without the suspended Matthew Myers after his hit on Goertzen in Cardiff on Sunday the game got underway and Sheffield started fast and hungry looking to put the previous nights result behind them and it would be Sheffield who would find the first opportunity of the games as Robert Dowd saw his snapshot saved followed by some great skating by Lacroix into the Devils zone only to see his shot deflected into the upper netting, Sheffield's defence also had to be on form as they have to prevent a 2 on 1 break for the Devils as well as Drew Fata knocking down Jake Morrisette to clear the puck but then on 9:21 to every ones confusion Robert Dowd was given a 5+ Game misconduct penalty by referee Michael Hicks for boarding after some great skating by the British forward to catch up with Devils Mark Smith who was already falling down as Dowd dispossessed the Cardiff D man as Smith then went into the boards, Dowd left the game more than un-impressed to the referees decision along with many of the fans in the building. Cardiff would have the luxury of a 5 minute power play which Sheffield handled extremely several times with Frank Doyle coming up big on a few effort but throughout the power play it was interesting to see that Hicks missed a too many men penalty for Cardiff as well as a holding call on Drew Fata in plain sight of the referee but Sheffield didn't let that both them and managed to kill the power play but not long after on 15:22 a 2 on 1 break for the Devils allowed Morrisette to pass to his right for Tyson Marsh to coolly slot past Frank Doyle to give Cardiff the lead. Unlike the night before Sheffield didn't let their heads dropped and went straight back on the attack and on 16:36 just under a minute since the opening goal Drew Fata was denied by Kosowski from just in front for Chris Blight to tap into the open goal for his first Sheffield goal, Cardiff would get one more opportunity before the buzzer but would be denied by the British bulldog Jason Hewitt on another 2 on 1 break after a poor Sheffield turnover. So going into the 1st intermission it would be all square between the two sides.

So a 1-1 period, both teams were out for the second period including every ones "favourite" referee and what a period it was for the Steelers but it would be the Devils that would have the first chance as Frank Doyle would release a poor rebound only for Cardiff to hit the post and then on an early power play with Rupert Quiney in the box for tripping Sheffield would make it count as Doyle would pad a puck wide for Gord Baldwin to pick it up and play to Stefan Meyer who would skate into the Cardiff zone to shoot a snapshot past Kosowski for 2-1 Steelers on 24:41 , great bit of play and was nice to see Frank Doyle getting an assist but it would get even better for Sheffield just over a minute later on 25:54 after Jonathan Phillips won the puck in the neutral zone he would play to Lacroix who would fire a slap shot into the top right of the goal for Sheffield's 3rd. Then just 14 seconds left after assists from Maxime Lacroix and Chris Blight, Sheffield forward Jeff Legue found himself poking the puck under Kosowski for a fourth goal for the Steelers and it was on every body's mind where was this Sheffield the previous night but what is done is done and after Tim Spencer saw his shot going in the body of Kosowski it was a case of role reversals when Blight and Legue played Lacroix who found himself to the left of goal and eventually saw his shot go in off a Devils stick on 29:27 and what a period we was being treated too. It wasn't all Sheffield though as Cardiff had two very good chances as Markus Rama tipped a shot just over the net of Doyle followed by Andrew Lord shooting just wide of the post but that is all the Welsh team to conjure up when on 33:44 Frank Doyle chested a Devil shot just wide for Lacroix to pass to Legue waiting in the neutral zone who skated at the Cardiff D to play back to Spener who fired a fierce snapshot for goal number six and then it was the turn of Jason Hewitt who scored his 100th elite league goal with the help of Phillips and Lacroix, Hewitt was able to meet the puck just in front of Kosowski and lift it over a committed Kosowski who allowed Hewitt the whole of the upper goal to aim at. That would be it for the second period and what a period it was, a 6-0 period for Sheffield! When was the last time we could say that?

The players came out for the third period and surprisingly Kamil Kosowski was still in between the pipes for the Devils but the third period was more about damage limitations for the Devils after such a devastating second period. It a nicely controlled period for the Steelers as Doyle had to deny scoring chances from Morrisette and Svete but Sheffield did try and add more to the score line but couldn't figure out Kosowski any more as Phillips saw his wrap around cleared as well as a big Drew Fata slap shot saved through all the traffic, the most impressive attempt was a Jeff Legue attempt as he was off balance and still managed to get a shot away which was unfortunately padded away. Chris Blight tried pulling out the skills only to see his toe draw get him dispossessed, Cardiff's best chances of the period fell to Jake Morrisette who found himself on the breakaway only to be denied by Dustin Kohn that saw him take a slashing penalty and then a goal line scramble eventually saw Sheffield clear the zone with Mac Faulkner and again Jake Morrisette who seemed to be everywhere knocking on the door. Sheffield would successfully kill the penalty and would see out the remainder of the game, winning 7-1 and securing a very important two points.

FINAL SCORE: Sheffield Steelers 7-1 Cardiff Devils

Boxscore (1st-2nd-3rd-OT-[PIM]-{PP}-S)
Sheffield   - 1-6-0-0-[27]-{1/3}-33
Cardiff      -1-0-0-0-[6]-{0/2}-25

Sheffield Man of the Match: #12 Maxime Lacroix
Cardiff Man of the Match: #22 Tyson Marsh

Referee: #27 Mike Hicks
Referee:
Linesman: #38 Danny Beresford
Linesman: #28 Jonny Liptrott

Sheffield take the two points after a 7-1 win and with Hull beating the Braehead Clan the result took us into second place in the standings level on points with Braehead with two games in hand against the Glasgow team and next up for Sheffield a road trip up to Scotland to face Braehead followed by a crunch match at the Motorpoint arena on Sunday against the Nottingham Panther where Sheffield will be looking for a revenge for the semi final defeats.

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Tom
@TomWalkeden
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