Cardiff Devils left Manchester with a narrow win for the second time this season, beating the Storm 3–1 on Sunday night.
The opening twenty minutes were high intensity and back-and-forth, with both teams creating Grade A chances. One of the highlights was a superb backdoor save from Ben Bowns to deny Storm’s opener.
“I think the first thing is I played a lot better than last time we were here,” said Bowns. “I kind of let the guys down last time, and it was kind of a similar story to last night where I didn’t have my best game. I knew I had to be a lot bigger and send a message.”
A strong physical spell from Cardiff put Storm on the back foot before Josh MacDonald got a touch on a blue-line shot to wrong-foot Drew DeRidder and give the Devils a 1-0 lead with 1:49 left in the period.
“I think we’ve had a tough little stretch here. It’s gonna happen,” said Storm goalie DeRidder. “I think we played really well all season and there’s good and bad moments, ups and downs to every game, and I think I could have been better at times.”
The second period was goalless but lively, with both teams spending extended time on the powerplay without converting. Cardiff came closest on a 2-on-0 rush, but DeRidder read the cross-crease pass and made an excellent stop.
Brady Gilmour levelled for the hosts 4:05 into the third period, but the game swung back Cardiff’s way while Manchester were on the powerplay as Kohen Olischefski scored shorthanded with 10:30 to play.
“That shorthanded goal they scored, I have to have that,” admitted DeRidder. “I have to find a way to save that, especially at that time of the game.”
MacDonald sealed the win with an empty-net goal inside the final two minutes.
“The guys were awesome again in front of me,” added Bowns. “They battled so hard, blocked a lot of shots, and didn’t really give Manchester much.”
Photo: Mark Ferris
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