The Flyers started their road double header in Cardiff Bay against the table top chasing Devils. The visitors scratched Simon Despres, Mason Alderson and Christian Purboo with Shane Owen getting the start in net. Garet Hunt was serving his final weekend under suspension and Andy Little was drafted in as back up. The Devils retained Christian Stoever in net with Ben Bowns back up as he returned from injury. Steven MacLean and Cole Sanford were scratched with Nolan Yaremko still sidelined through injury.
The Devils were on the attack first and in the opening minute Andrew McLean blocked a shot from Gleason Fournier. Brandon Estes threatened in the 3rd minute in tight against Owen who came up big. The Flyers first shot on the Devils net was in the 5th minute when David Booth was able to get in behind the Devils defence but Stoever stood tall. It was a game with few whistle to this point but at 6:51 the visitors shocked their hosts with the opening goal. A give and go play between Milan Lucic and Josh Winquist was finished with a back door pass to Lucic who was able to scoop the puck past Stoever. In the 8th minute Ben Brown tested Stoever from distance but he hung on to the puck. The Flyers doubled their advantage at 9.05 when Booth intercepted an attempted pass out of the Devils zone and he sped on from the blueline alone to deke the Devils keeper and net with a backhand finish. The first powerplay of the night went the way of the Devils in the 10th minute when Jeremy Masella and Ben Davies tangled behind the Flyers bnet and it was the Flyers who was sent to the box on his own on a holding minor. Owen snagged a shot from Kontos but from the restart the Devils halved the deficit when Kohen Olischefski went down the right wing and his pass into the slot was one timed just inside the post on the glove side of Owen by the Devils man in form at the moment Riley Brandt. The Flyers were on the man advantage in the 13th minute when Stoever was adjudged to have played the puck outside the trapezoid. Midway through the Flyers powerplay Ian Scheid was called for interference on a pick on the Devils blueline and the teams skated 4 on 4 for a minute. The Devils returned to full strength and a powerplay but the Flyers kill was solid and they returned to full strength without the Devils registering a shot on goal. In the 18th minute Owen made a couple of saves in quick succession on Cedric Lacroix to maintain the Flyers advantage.
A couple of minutes into the second period Josh MacDonald took the puck down the right wing and to the net but Owen shut him down. In the 25th minute Stoever gloved a slapshot from the circles by Booth. A minute later Owen held, a shot from Brett Ferguson from a tight angle with Ryan Barrow providing the screen. Moments later Booth worked his way through the home defence and Stoever was happy to fight off his effort on goal and then scramble the puck away from Johan Porsberger. A broken stick for Scheid presented the Devils with an odd man chance but Owen came up big again to stop Lacroix. Justin Ducharme brough a shoulder save from Stoever moments later. A huge hit by Connor Caponi behind the Flyers net in the 28th minute knocked Ryan Nicholson to the ice with the Fife man losing his helmet. Masella reacted to the hit to take Caponi to task but succeeded in taking the only penalty for roughing to put the Devils back on the powerplay. The Devils controlled the puck for almost the entire two minutes ion the Flyers zone but they were kept to the outside and the Flyers completed the kill. Owen came up with a solid positional save from a Joey Martin tip from the edge of the crease. Jonas Emmerdahl made a big shot block a minute later on a Brandt shot and the Flyers transitioned with Booth going the other way and Stoever needed two bites of the cherry to make the save. Owen was busy as he made saves to deny Mark Richardson, Estes and then Martin from close range. Stoever made a stick save in the 37th minute to stop Keaton Jameson and he followed that up to thwart Masella. Barrow streaked onto a long through pass in the 38th minute to go in all alone on Owen who got just enough of his pad on the shot to divert the puck into the corner. And the Flyers were thankful again to their keeper in the final minute as he came up big again to deny Evan Mosey.
Booth brough a save from Stoever in the opening 30 seconds of the third period and in the 43rd minute an Emmerdahl shot from the circles was saved by the shoulder of the Devils keeper. A Brandt shot in the 44th minute in the high slot was turned over the crossbar by Owen and moments later Masella attempting to clear the puck put it over the glass and the Devils returned to the powerplay on the delay of game call. 30 seconds in and Nicholson was called for illegal equipment after breaking his stick and discarding it and with a long 5 on 3 the Devils called their time out. Owen gloved a shot from the blueline from Estes and then smothered a shot from Brandt. The Flyers returned to 4 skaters and Owen kept a Brett Perlini shot out as the visitors completed a huge kill. The momentum from that kill brought another Flyers goal at 43:36 when Porsberger fired a stretch pass and Booth took the puck out of the air to go in alone on Stoever and beat him on the backhand. In the 48th minute Ethan Somoza saw his shot from the slot ring the post and that let off was capitalised on at 48:49 with Fournier getting a touch on a puck into the slot to squeak it past Owen. The home crowd were energised and the Devils responded with the game tying goal at 51:03 Â when Brandt was set up in the slot to beat Owen who had been pulled out of position. Flyers called their time out. Owen made a stick stop on Kontos in the 54th minute but the Devils got their noses in front for the first time at 56:14 with another dirty goal as Barrow as able to stuff the puck home from close range. With 3 minutes remaining the Flyers pulled Owen for the extra skater and pretty much kept the Devils penned in their own end for the remainder of the game. Devils survived a scramble and a shoulder save by Stoever on Somoza was big. In the dying seconds Brandt missed the empty net in his bid for his hattrick.
Pic Credits – Cardiff Devils
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