Steelers hit for six by Devils

Welcome to our match report from Wednesday night's game at Cardiff.

After a four point weekend, Steelers headed into Cardiff hoping to put more delays into the Devils title bid. The Steelers showed one change from the team that won against the Devils and Nottingham which meant no suspension for defenceman Zack Fitzgerald who received two misconducts in the Devils encounter on the Sunday; that being the absence of Finnish defenceman Miika Franssila who was ruled out with illness. However, there were a couple of changes in Andrew Lord's team. Mark Louis returned from a lengthy injury absence and replaced Drew Paris on the blueline whilst Tyson Strachan served a one match suspension for the checking to the head match penalty picked up in Sheffield. Ben Bowns returned in goal after missing the last two games.

Once more we apologise in advance for the brief tome of this match report.

Steelers made once more a terrible start to a game as the Devils scored within just 22 seconds of the initial puck drop, that's eight seconds quicker than the Devils scored at the House Of Steel recently. The two Joey's, Martin and Haddad, combined and offensive defenceman Gleason Fournier lit the lamp for the home side. Almost a couple of minutes later the gloves were dropped as Devils Justin Faryna and Steelers' Eric Neiley went toe to toe in what was said to be a good tilt. Devils were once more forcing the issue, and added a second with 2:46 left in the opening period. With Steelers Swedish centre Andreas Valdix serving a hooking minor, the Devils powerplay went to work for the second time on the night, and this time it produced a goal. Joey Haddad was the scorer.

You would have thought the Steelers would have made a reasonable start to the middle period, wouldn't you? Well, it took the Devils 23 seconds this time to score again: their third of the game. The same three who combined for the opening goal, combined again. This time Martin scored, assisted by Haddad and Fournier. Just before the five minute mark in this period, Devils added a fourth, which also spelled the end of the night for Steelers' Latvian netminder Ervins Mustukovs. Andrew Hotham was the man who scored it, assisted by Sean Bentivoglio and Layne Ulmer. It was a penalty strewn middle period but on their first powerplay of the night, Steelers scored their opening goal of the contest. Mathieu Roy scoring his 26th of the season. The arrears were further reduced with less than four and a half minutes left, and yet another Steelers powerplay goal: Ben O'Connor with his 17th of the campaign. However, Devils restored a three goal margin with eight seconds left in this period, Patrick Asselin scoring past relief netminder Brad Day.

Hopes for the Steelers to get something from the game were flickered once more when they scored a third past Bowns with just 2:42 played in the final period. That well oiled second line provided it with winger Levi Nelson netting his 20th of the season assisted by, well you know the rest. Yet despite outshooting the home side, Devils made the game secure with a sixth and the final goal of the contest. It came just after halfway, Fournier scoring his second of the game on the powerplay as Fitzgerald sat a boarding minor.

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Devils 6 Steelers 3

Steelers Scoring: Neiley 0+2, Roy 1+0, Nelson 1+0, O'Connor 1+0, Valdix 0+1, Matheson 0+1, Dowd 0+1, Westerling 0+1.

Devils Scoring: Fournier 2+1, Haddad 1+2, Martin 1+2, Bentivoglio 0+3, Hotham 1+1, Myers 0+1, Asselin 1+0. 

Shots On Goal:  Steelers 31 Devils 38

Powerplay: Steelers 2 from 6 (33% conversion), Devils 3 from 9 (33% conversion)

Penalty Minutes called: Steelers 25 Devils 31

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 13 Saves (1313), GAA: 9.60 (2.40), Save Percentage: 96.00% (91.70%). Day 19 Saves (46), GAA: 3.43 (2.73), Save Percentage: 96.00% (92.00%)

Man of the Match: Eric Neiley (Steelers), Gleason Fournier (Devils)

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