Cardiff Devils moved joint top of the Elite League with a one-goal win over Guildford Flames on Sunday night at the Spectrum.
“Our goal is to win the league. I’m happy we got the four points this weekend to help our chances,” said Devils’ Riley Brandt, who scored the game-winning goal. “Sometimes through the year we’ve dipped a bit, but we found a way to dig in tonight and that shows the character we have in our team.”
Guildford struck early as Jack Jacome tipped home Jamal Watson’s point shot inside the opening minute to give the Flames the lead.
Cardiff responded at the midway point of the first period when Josh MacDonald broke away from the neutral zone and deked past Taz Burman to level the game. The Flames continued to apply pressure and restored their advantage with six minutes remaining, Matt Alvaro tipping Jonathan Racine’s shot from the blue line past Christian Stoever. Cardiff were unable to convert on a late power play and Guildford led 2-1 after twenty minutes.
The Devils tied the game again three minutes into the second period, Brandon Estes’ point shot redirected in front by Sam Duggan. Guildford regained the lead soon after as Jacome showed patience to slide the puck across to Josh Waller, who finished with Stoever out of position.
Cardiff levelled for a third time at 37:33 when a turnover at the blue line allowed Brett Ferguson to find Brandt, who set up Ryan Barrow to make it 3-3 heading into the second intermission.
Brandt scored for the third straight game just 31 seconds into the final period to put Cardiff ahead for the first time.
“We talked about things in the room before the third period,” added Brandt. “The guys did a great job down low and Olischefski made a really good pass to find me. I just had to put my stick down.”
Guildford thought they had tied the game late on, but the goal was ruled out after play had been blown down. A late penalty gave the Flames a power play for the final minute, but they were unable to find an equaliser as the Devils held on for the points.
“Cardiff are a great team,” said Flames’ Jack Jacome. “I thought we competed really hard. Sometimes it’s just hockey, a bounce one way or the other , and they made us pay for a few mistakes.”
Photo: John Uwins
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