Steelers slip to Devils defeat

Time for your match report from Saturday's game at Cardiff Devils, our only game of the weekend.

After shutting out the Devils a fortnight ago, Steelers were hoping to build on this and take a much needed away triumph from their visit to Ice Arena Wales. The team were depleted in the defensive ranks as Ben O'Connor did not ice after his wife went into labour on the day of the game, this coupled with Joonas Ronnberg's departure after last Sunday's game, meant the Steelers were down to four recognised defencemen with Cole Shudra bound to get a shift here and there. They were also without the injured Jonas Westerling and it was also game four of the six game ban for Colton Fretter, Brady Ramsay did return to the team however. Devils team news saw them welcome back Justin Faryna after injury, but were still missing Mark Richardson, Patrick Asselin and Joey Haddad.

In front of a sell out crowd in Ice Arena Wales, the game couldn't have started any better for the home side as they opened the scoring after just 55 seconds. Steelers couldn't get the puck out of their own zone and Sean Bentivoglio got the all important touch to send the puck into the net. Steelers had to weather a bit of a storm after this early strike, but they did so, and levelled matters at 4:45 on the clock. Bowns offered up a juicy rebound and Andreas Valdix took full advantage to pouch his third goal of the season. 

Cardiff came again and then forced Steelers into a spot of penalty trouble with some relentless pressure, it was only a matter of time therefore that they scored a second. With three seconds left on a Levi Nelson tripping minor, Devils pounced again: Andrew Hotham being the man on target and Steelers centre John Armstrong being assessed a cross checking minor in the aftermath of it which drew massive cheers from the home supporters. More penalty problems happened in the closing stages of the first period, Matt Marquardt off for tripping this time and the Devils again profited. Matt Pope's final effort squirming into the net although it was one that Moose might seriously want to have back.

The second period saw much more Devils pressure as they hunted more goals on a Steelers defence that were logging up some serious minutes, but some good goaltending from Moose as well as great defensive work ensured that period would end up scoreless. Steelers came out with some intent in the final twenty, and forced the hosts onto the back foot with only some desperate defending seeing them out. Zack Fitzgerald had been at heart of everything, at one stage looking his game was done with a nasty knock but Fitzy being the warrior that he is: got some running repairs and was back on the ice a couple of shifts later. With Moose pulled in the final minute, Steelers continued to give it everything and made it 3-2 31 seconds from the end thanks to a terrific shot from the blue line by Scott Aarssen; his first goal for the team. However, Devils held on and Steelers inter-conference record suffered another narrow but unwanted record.

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Devils 3 Steelers 2

Steelers Scoring: Aarssen 1+0, Valdix 1+0, Fitzgerald 0+1, Dowd 0+1, Nelson 0+1, Armstrong 0+1.

Devils Scoring: Hotham 1+1, Pope 1+1, Bentivoglio 1+1, Paris 0+1, Ulmer 0+1, Martin 0+1.

Shots On Goal:  Devils 27 Steelers 24

Powerplay: Steelers 0 from 2 (0% conversion), Devils 2 from 4 (50% conversion)

Penalty Minutes called: Devils 6 Steelers 8

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 24 Saves (420), GAA: 3.05 (2.27), Save Percentage 88.90% (92.10%)

Man of the Match: Zack Fitzgerald (Steelers), Andrew Hotham (Devils)

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