It was a packed house in Guildford for this Boxing Day classic between the Devils and the Flames and the two teams were both ready for a battle. End to end action and big saves highlighted the opening period but it was a major penalty that will be rememebered for opening the game up for the Devils.
At 16:39 Jamie Crooks flattened Sean Bentivoglio with a check to the head, which left the Devils forward bloody and also meant that Crooks was out of the game with a 5 minute major penalty and a game misconduct.
On the ensuing powerplay the Devils opened the scoring through Stephen Dixon who finished off a pass from Charles Linglet to make it 1-0 at 19:27.
Back to back penalties for the Devils opened the door for the Flames to even the scoreline in the middle of the second period, but the Devils penalty killing was on top form all night, stopping the Flames on all 5 powerplay chances they had.
With 10:45 left to play in the game, Kruise Reddick tipped a shot from Jordan Rowley past Ben Bowns to tie the game up at 1 apiece.  Both teams traded powerplay chances in the last 7 minutes of the period, but neither could get the go-ahead goal, so the game headed into overtime.
The Devils had the run of play in extra time, but they couldn’t find a way past Travis Fullerton who stopped all 5 shots he faced in overtime to send the game to a shootout.
The Devils scored twice in the shootout through Joey Haddad and then Matt Pope and Ben Bowns stopped every shooter he faced to give the Devils the win.
The two teams meet again on Saturday Night in Cardiff’s Viola Arena for the second game in this post-Christmas home and home series.
Photo Credit: John Uwins
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