Big ‘Bordy’ Leads League Leaders Devils To Overtime Victory in Scotland

Edinburgh Capitals 2, Cardiff Devils 3

after sudden death overtime

Man of the match Patrick Bordeleau led Cardiff Devils to victory in a tough, dour Elite League ice hockey battle at Murrayfield.

The day after Wales had been beaten by Scotland in a Six Nationals rugby clash, Devils were in action at the ice rink next door to the main stadium.

Welshman Chris Jones and Bordeleau plus a Joey Haddad overtime winner earned Cardiff maximum points.

Edinburgh earn a point of their own for taking the game into overtime, but they are bottom of the table and that won’t worry Devils at all.

Cardiff’s win became even more crucial when Sheffield Steelers, who were second, lost 6-3 against Fife Flyers away.

Belfast Giants, 4-3 winners against Nottingham Panthers, have moved into second place with seven fixtures left in the regular league season.

They are, though, seven points behind leaders Devils.

First period

Welsh forward Chris Jones fired Devils ahead after three minutes 22 seconds, assisted by Patrick Bordeleau and David Brine.

That set Devils off to an excellent start in Scotland.

But Caps, bottom of Elite League, made it 1-1 through Ian Schultz (13-50) and went ahead when Pavel Vorobyev scored unassisted (15-58).

It was a below par first period from Devils, who included fit-again Sean Bentivoglio in their line-up with Chris Culligan the healthy import scratch.

Devils have an extra import player available and all of them dressed and warmed up before Culligan sat out.

The official League gametes had back-up Thomas Murdy in goal for Devils, but it was  clearly Ben Bowns on the live stream.

Caps outshot their visitors 13-9 in the first.

End of first: Caps 2, Devils 1.

Second period

Devils stepped things up in the second with Joey Martin and Patrick Asselin going close. The 6ft 6ins Bordeleau weighed in with a massive, but fair, hit on Edinburgh’s Tyler Plews.

It was then Bordeleau who scored to make to 2-2, firing home on 36-30 with Brine providing his second assist of the match.

That was Cardiff’s second fourth line goal of the match and the teams went in level.

End of second: Caps 2, Devils 2.

Third period

Devils pressed hard in the third and forced a number of face-offs in the Edinburgh zone, but the closest they came to a goal was a Lord backhand shot saved on 46-17.

Bentivoglio, too, went close, but his effort was stopped by a Travis Fullerton save in goal (56-30).

Cardiff pressed hard in the closing stages, but when the regulation 60 minutes ended the score was 2-2 and both teams had earned a point.

End of third: Caps 2, Devils 2.

Overtime

Devils threw everything into overtime, starting with Ulmer, Asselin and Fournier, followed by Bentivoglio, Martin and Andrew Hotham.

Caps survived that early onslaught in the extra five minutes, but they were gunned down by Joey Haddad, assisted by Andrew Hotham, after three minutes 14 seconds of the extra period.

Haddad’s strike ensured Devils completed a four-point weekend to stay on course for the League title.

Edinburgh’s Taylor MacDougall let referee Toby Craig know what he thought of Cardiff’s winner and was given a 10 minute misconduct penalty.

Match stats:

Scorers:

Caps: Ian Schultz 1+0, Pavel Vorobyev 1+0, Mason Wilgosh 0+1, Garrett Mile 0+1.

Devils: Chris Jones 1+0, Patrick Bordeleau 1+1, Joey Haddad 1+0, David Brine 0+2, Andrew Hotham 0+1.

Period scores (Caps first): 2-1; 0-1 (2-2); 0-0 (2-2); 0-1 (2-3).

Penalties in minutes: Caps 0+2+0+10=12; Devils 0+2+0+0=2.

Referee: Toby Craig.