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Cardiff Devils are intent on heading into the Elite League end-of-season play-offs on a high.
Coach Andrew Lord and his team have back-to-back home fixtures at Ice Arena Wales this weekend, playing Belfast Giants on Saturday (7pm) and Milton Keynes Lightning the following evening (6pm).
Devils have already clinched the League and Erhardt Conference titles for a second successive season and are focused on completing a trophy treble.
Lord will demand a big finish to their regular season fixtures because his Devils team need momentum going into the play-off quarter-finals.
Cardiff have two spare imports on their roster and one of this is Lord, who is highly unlikely to skate in the play-offs, one other will also miss out.
That means competition for places is high in a team who, as British champions, will be rated favourites to lift the final trophy of the season.
Drew Paris has sat out a fair amount of matches over the last month or so, but he is in form and was named man of the match during the match against Manchester Storm last night (Wednesday).
Devils rested Martin, who sat out a second successive match, plus goalie Ben Bowns, Bryce Reddick and Tyson Strachan.
All four were in need of a rest and Lord gave them the night off, but they are all potentially in line to return this weekend.
Thomas Murdy was between the pipes for Devils, while Great Britain under-20 international Jordan Lawday, who plays for Cardiff Fire, was back-up for a second time at Elite League level.
Former Devils captain Ryan Finnerty, now Manchester Storm coach, was delighted with his teams 7-4 win against Devils at the IAW in Cardiff Bay on Wednesday.
Storm have been crowned Patton Conference champions – their first silverware since joining the League in 2015 – and are second in Elite League.
Finnerty took charge of Storm after moving from Braehead Clan last summer and he reacted to the fact that he is the first coach in EIHL history to win two different conference.
“It’s a pretty incredible achievement for the guys,” he said. “This has been something of a ‘Cinderella’ season for us.
“I enjoy watching this group compete. I’ve had nothing but fun with them.
“I was aware of the stat about me being the first coach to win two different Conferences. It’s good and it feels pretty sweet.
“I won three with Braehead and it was kind of expected there so wasn’t really celebrated. Here, nobody would have given us a sniff to do what we’ve done.
“I’m really excited for our fan base to be able to enjoy that. It’s a big achievement for a club that’s only been back for three years.”
Devils pressed hard to the end against Storm and the final scoreline was thanks to two empty net goals for the visitors.
Other League scores on Wednesday: Belfast Giants 10, MK Lightning 4; Fife Flyers 0, Sheffield Steelers 1; Guildford Flames 3, Dundee Stars 0.
Cardiff Devils will host their final home game of the season on Sunday, April 1 at Ice Arena Wales.
The game will be the home leg of their play-off quarter-final. The opponent is still to be determined and will be either Coventry Blaze or Braehead Clan depending on results this weekend.
The winner of the two-game series will move on to the Predictorbet play-offs final four weekend in Nottingham on Saturday, April 7 and Sunday, April 8.
Match stats (Devils v Storm, Wednesday):
Scorers, Devils: Matthew Myers 1+0, Matt Pope 1+0, Justin Faryna 1+1, Andrew Hotham 0+1, Jake Morissette 0+1, Layne Ulmer 0+2, Gleason Fournier 0+1.
Storm: Ciaran Long 2+1, Matt Beca 2+0, Gerard Hanson 1+0, Chris Auger 1+0, Dane Byers 1+0, Paul Swindlehurst 0+1, Scott Pitt 0+1, Andrew McKinney 0+1, Linden Springer 0+1.
Period scores (Devils first): 2-2; 1-2 (3-4); 1-3 (4-7).
Shots on goal: Devils (on Clemente) 11+15+13=39; Storm (on Murdy) 18+10+12=40.
Penalties in minutes: Devils 7+0+0=7; Storm 4+7+4=15.
Cardiff Devils 7 minutes on 2 infractions Manchester Storm 15 minutes on 6 infractions
Powerplays: Devils 3/5; Manchester Storm 0/1.
Attendance: 2,855
Referee: Mike Hicks and Tom Darnell.
Stars of the game: Devils, Drew Paris; Storm, Ciaron Long.
ELITE LEAGUE STANDINGS
Regular 2017/18 – all teams play 56 matches
| Rk | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | WPCT | Pts |
| 1 | Cardiff Devils | 54 | 39 | 12 | 1 | 2 | .750 | 81 |
| 2 | Manchester Storm | 54 | 35 | 14 | 3 | 2 | .694 | 75 |
| 3 | Belfast Giants | 54 | 33 | 19 | 2 | 0 | .630 | 68 |
| 4 | Fife Flyers | 55 | 33 | 20 | 1 | 1 | .618 | 68 |
| 5 | Sheffield Steelers | 54 | 32 | 19 | 2 | 1 | .620 | 67 |
| 6 | Guildford Flames | 54 | 28 | 17 | 5 | 4 | .602 | 65 |
| 7 | Nottingham Panthers | 53 | 30 | 18 | 2 | 3 | .613 | 65 |
| 8 | Braehead Clan | 54 | 24 | 24 | 5 | 1 | .500 | 54 |
| 9 | Coventry Blaze | 54 | 24 | 25 | 4 | 1 | .491 | 53 |
| 10 | Dundee Stars | 54 | 22 | 28 | 3 | 1 | .444 | 48 |
| 11 | Milton Keynes Lightning | 54 | 19 | 33 | 1 | 1 | .370 | 40 |
| 12 | Edinburgh Capitals | 54 | 5 | 48 | 0 | 1 | .102 | 11 |
