Manchester Storm went top of the Elite League with an excellent 4-0 road win over Glasgow Clan at Braehead Arena.
Drew DeRidder was the star of the night for the visitors, stopping 42 shots to record his first EIHL shutout.
Storm weren’t undeserving of their lead through 20 minutes. A poor turnover from Clan in their own end allowed Harrison Caines to feed Kaleb Ergang below the goal line, who in turn set up JD Dudek in front to fire past Sami Aittokallio and open the scoring at 14:38.
DeRidder was a major reason Storm stayed in front during the middle frame. The Storm netminder pulled off a string of excellent saves to deny Tristin Langan, Brett Neumann and Richard Jarůšek as the hosts piled on the pressure but couldn’t find a way through.
Deven Sideroff’s one-timer produced another outstanding glove save from DeRidder with three minutes left in the period. Clan outshot their visitors 15-4 in period two but were still left chasing the game.
Just over three minutes into the final period, Storm struck again on the rush. Former Clan forward Gary Haden picked the top corner of Aittokallio’s net to double the visitors’ lead at 43:23.
Despite heavy late pressure from Clan – including another excellent DeRidder save to deny Brayden Burke with six minutes remaining – the Storm held firm to secure both the shutout and top spot in the standings.
Loren Ulett settled things with an empty-netter at 57:51
Photo: Al Goold
You must be logged in to post a comment.