Joey Martin Fires Crucial Third Goal To Keep Devils On Course

Cardiff Devils 4, Dundee Stars 2

Joey Martin scored his 26th goal of the Elite League ice hockey season to keep Cardiff Devils n course for a Grand Slam.

They came from two goals down to win their play-off semi-final against Dundee Stars at the National Ice Centre, Nottingham.

Devils will now play Sheffield Steelers or Belfast Giants in Sunday’s final (4pm face-off).

They have already won the League title, Challenge Cup and Erhardt Conference and Sunday’s play-off final is the last fixture of the 2016-17 season.

If Devils can come out on top they will be the first team to complete a four-trophy ice hockey Grand Slam.

To complete a magnificent day, Devils then won every Elite award on offer – a grand slam of individual honours.

They were:

Defenceman of the year: Andrew Hotham

Forward of the year: Joey Martin

Netminder of the year: Ben Bowns

Coach of the year: Andrew Lord

Player of the year: Andrew Hotham

American forward Denny Kearney was left out of the Devils team and player-coach Andrew Lord stuck with tied and trusted lines. Martin, Sean Bentivoglio and Lord teamed up, while Guillaume Doucet liked with Chris Culligan and Matthew Myers.

Joey Haddad, Layne Ulmer and Patrick Asselin combined with Patrick Bordeleau and David Brine leading the fourth line unit.

Coaches Jamie Elson and Jake Morissette ran the bench for Cardiff, while hundreds of Devils fans made themselves heard loud and clear as they roared on their team, but things did not go well for Cardiff in the first period.

Bentivoglio and Martin both had good chances, but their timing was out when they tried to shoot.

Stars scored first when Kevin Hart fired low into the corner after 12 minutes 29 seconds and Brett Switzer gave the Scottish club a two-goal lead on 18-13.

Big-hitting Dundee, who had skated hard and kept Devils at full stretch in that first period, deserved to be in front at that stage against a surprisingly lacklustre Cardiff.

Player-coach Lord demanded a response and the players came out with far more jump. Haddad pulled a goal back after 26-57, taking his time before firing high into the net with Asselin and Ulmer given the assists.

Devils scored their second after 43-40 when defenceman Mark Louis was quickest onto a loose puck and squeezed his shot past netminder Joe Fallon.

Lord and Martin were awarded assists.

Mark Richardson tried a shot from the blue line which flicked off the outside of a post as Devils increased the pressure on Stars, who still looked dangerous on the break.

Devils went ahead for the first time when Martin was first to react when goalie Fallon fended off a Lord shot. Martin was in fast to flick home his shot from an angle.

Scott Hotham was given a two-minute penalty in the final three minutes, Devils first minor of the game, and Stars pulled goalie Fallon to give themselves a 6v4 advantage.

Devils killed the penalty and then the game when Andrew Hotham lobbed the puck down the ice and into an empty net to complete the victory.

Match stats: 

Scorers, Cardiff Devils: Joey Haddad 1-0, Mark Louis 1+0, Joey Martin 1+1, Layne Ulmer 0+1, Andrew Hotham 1+0, Patrick Asselin 0+1, Andrew Lord 0+2.

Dundee Stars: Kevin Hart 1+0, Brett Switzer 1+0, Vinny Scarsella 0+2, Justin Faryna 0+2,

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

Penalties in minutes: Devils 0+0+2=2; Stars 0+2+0=2.

Shots on goal: Devils (on Fallon) 8+12+; Stars (on Bowns) 9+6+

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

Referees: Stefan Hogarth and Dean Smith.