Flames Next Up After Devils Earn Third Successive Win

Cardiff Devils completed a four-point weekend with a second victory in two nights.

More than 3,000 spectators roared Devils on in a 3-1 win against Dundee Stars at Ice Arena Wales.

They had beaten Manchester Storm away on Saturday and followed that with a convincing display against Stars.

Josh Batch and Justin Faryna suffered injuries in a physical battle against Storm, joining Craig Moore and Mark Louis in the treatment room.

Player-coach Andrew Lord was in the bench against Storm, but he returned to the team along with Luke Piggott.

Both Piggott and Toms Rutkiss had shifts as Devils earned the win they needed.

Layne Ulmer scored Cardiff’s first goal after nine minutes 58 seconds with assists going to Mark Richardson and Andrew Hotham.

It was Hotham made it 2-0 when he fired home on a delayed penalty goal with Hotham and Gleason Fournier setting up the chance after 14-52.

Brian Hart pulled a goal back on the powerplay (18-32) and Devils protests that the puck had been kicked in were waved aside.

Bryce Reddick and Cameron McGiffin dropped the gloves three minutes into the middle period and both sat for 5 minutes with fighting majors.

Joey Haddad earned the biggest cheer of the night when he fired home after 33-18. The popular Canadian is playing again after recovering from injury.

On the night of the annual ‘Air the Bear’, Devils had the puck in Dundee’s net early when a loose puck was jammed into the net inside four minutes.

Soft toys were thrown onto the ice from all areas and will be given to children around South Wales, but the referee disallowed the goal so despite the bears hitting the ice the score remained 0-0.

Layne Ulmer scores Cardiff Devils first goal against Stars.

That decision only delayed Devils and they emerged winners even though Joey de Concilys hammered a pass from Marc-Olivier Mimar through goalie Ben Bowns at 56-32 to give Stars hope.

Stars managed only 13 shots over the 60 minutes, compared to Devils’ 32. The Scottish club worked to frustrate Cardiff and it was a scrappy match, but there were plenty of positives as Devils earned a third successive victory.

The visitors pulled their netminder in the final minute, but Devils completed their second victory of the weekend.

Guildford Flames are in Cardiff Bay for the next match. That Elite League clash is at Ice Arena Wales on Friday (7pm). Devils then go to Nottingham Panthers the next evening (7pm) before having a free Sunday.

Joey Haddad in action.

Ticket information for the home clash in Cardiff Bay is available via 0800 0842 666 or online CLICK HERE

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Match stats:

Scorers, Devils: Layne Ulmer 1+0, Andrew Hotham 1+2, Joey Haddad 1+0, Mark Richardson 0+1, Gleason Fournier 0+1, Andrew Lord 0+1, Paul Crowder 0+1.

Stars: Brian Hart 1+0, Joey de Concilys 1+0, Gabriel Levesque 0+1, Malcolm Gould 0+1, Marc-Olivier Mimar 0+1.

Shots on goal: Devils (on Fullerton) 9+16+7=32; Stars (on Bowns) 3+5+5=13.

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

Penalties in minutes: Devils 2+7+4=13; Stars 0+7+2=9.

Powerplays: Devils 0/1; Stars 1/3.

Referee: Jan Schmejkal