SHEFFIELD, UK – It was the first game of the EIHL regular season, but the Sheffield Steelers and Cardiff Devils carried on the way they left off last season with an incredible game in the House of Steel on Saturday Night.
The Devils opened the scoring 5:39 into the first period when Sean Bentivoglio picked up a rebound after Joey Haddad tried to jam the puck past Ervins Mustukovs to give the Devils a 1-0 lead on the powerplay. But the Steelers were even at 1-1 at 11:52 when John Armstrong scored his first goal of the night with Scott Aarssen and Mark Matheson 
drawing assists on the play.
The middle period saw the Devils score twice in 36 seconds to take a 3-1 lead, first Joey Martin broke free after being set up by linemates Matt Pope and Patrick Asselin and he shelfed the puck over Mustukovs to make it 2-1 at 23:46 then right off the face-off.
The Devils turned a broken play into another goal with Pope getting in on the Steelers net and deking around Mustukovs to double the Devils lead at 24:22
The Steelers got one back in the middle period, this time on the powerplay when Colton Fretter scored at 30:44 to pull the score back to 3-2 with Ben O’Connor and Tim Wallace getting the assists.
The Devils carried their 3-2 lead into the final period and had a chance to put the game away after Tim Wallace was given a double minor penalty for high-sticking at 43:01, giving the Devils 4 straight minutes with a man-advantage. Bryce Reddick was called for hooking Steelers’ captain Jonathan Phillips on a breakaway during the Devils powerplay and Phillips was awarded a penalty shot at 25:35. Ben Bowns came up with a big save to keep the Devils ahead 3-2, but the Steelers penalty killers were on form and managed to kill the rest of the 4 minutes off, which gave them a huge boost.
The momentum continued to swing in favour of the Steelers when Matthew Myers was called for tripping at 48:44 and the Steelers powerplay went to work, scoring the tying goal at 49:05 when Armstrong walked out from the corner and roofed the puck over Bowns on the short side to make it 3-3. Both teams traded chances with the Steelers outshooting the Devils in the final period but the period ran down and the game remained tied, sending this game into overtime.
The 3 on 3 overtime period was filled with chances at both ends of the ice, with the Steelers getting a couple of point blank chances right in front of the Devils net, but Bowns was there with two huge saves to keep the Devils in the game. The winning goal came off the stick of Justin Faryna, who fired the puck that went over the Steelers goal then bounced off the glass, and off the back of Mustukovs into his own goal to give the Devils the win.
Another epic battle between the Steelers and Devils and a huge 2 points on the road for the Devils, who opened their league title defence with an away win in one of the toughest buildings to get an away win in the EIHL.
With match report courtesy of Cardiff Devils
Photos by Mick Johnson
@MickGta
@Michael.Johnson@prohockeynews.com
@prohockeynews.com
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