Cardiff Devils went back to the top of Group A in the Challenge Cup with a three-goal blanking of Manchester Storm in an ill-tempered game on Friday night.
Ben Bowns stopped all 29 shots he faced.
A feisty start to the opening period saw both teams getting scrappy on the ice, with Cardiff picking up nine penalty minutes and Manchester totalling a hefty 39, mostly due to a major penalty and game ejection for Rais Francis after a check to the head.
That incident led to the only goal of the opening 20 minutes. Cedric Lacroix produced a slick tap-in from a Jimmy Oligny shot to give the home side a one-goal advantage heading into the second period.
“Games like that are going to happen, and I think we did a pretty good job of staying disciplined,” commented Devils forward Kristoff Kontos. “A couple of big fights set the tone, and I think we managed our emotions well, not getting frustrated and eventually getting the win.
“I think we have a pretty tough, strong team and can thrive off that energy. But if you take bad penalties it can hurt the team, so if you can keep the emotions intact it leads to wins.”
The second period followed a similar pattern with more penalties and another fight, as Loren Ulett received a five-minute major and was ejected after his second fight of the night.
Despite both sides creating serious chances, strong performances from goalies Evan Weninger and Ben Bowns shut down any scoring opportunities, setting up a one-goal game going into the final 20 minutes.
An interference call on Bradley Jenion set the Devils up for their second goal of the night when Kontos went bar-down to make it 2-0 with just over 14 minutes to play.
With just under three minutes remaining, and with six skaters on the ice, Storm thought they had halved the deficit with a close-range tap-in. However, after video review the officials ruled that the puck had not crossed the goal line. Less than 30 seconds later, Josh MacDonald fired into the empty net to seal the win.
The teams meet again tomorrow in Manchester. “It’s a tough building to go into. They’re good in there and know how to use it to their advantage,” added Kontos. “We’ll need to stay disciplined and hopefully use that to our advantage to come home with two points.”
Photo: James Assinder