By Rebecca Hall
Cardiff Devils claimed a confident victory against Dundee Stars in an impressive response to their Challenge Cup final disappointment in midweek.
Pete Russell’s side were brushed aside 4-0 by Belfast Giants on Wednesday night to miss out on silverware.
But they continued impressive league form with the play-offs looming, with this their fifth victory on the bounce against a Stars outfit who had won three out of their previous five.
Devils piled on early pressure with lots of shots on goal and extended zone time, but Stars were quick to counter that with good defensive plays.
However, such defence could only hold out for so long. A poor pass in front of the net allowed Devils’ Riley Brandt a clean shot which rebounded to Brad Schoonbaert, who gave the Devils a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute.
Stars peppered Devils net-minder Ben Bowns with shots, but he stood tall and kept the home side in front at the end of the first period.
Devils wasted no time doubling their lead after the interval with a fine goal from Josh MacDonald, assisted by Joey Martin and Gleason Fournier timed in the first minute of the second period.
Cardiff kept hold of the puck and created multiple opportunities from quick rushes up the ice.
The hard work paid off as they found themselves on the powerplay as Dundee Stars’ Ben O’Connor sat two minutes in the penalty box for holding.
The Devils then capitalised on the extra man advantage, as just 20 seconds later, they bagged themselves a powerplay goal scored by Brett Perlini and assisted by Zach O’Brien and Josh MacDonald for a 3-0 lead.
Stars came more into it after this and when O’Brien served a bench minor for too many men, they got themselves a goal back on the powerplay through Philippe Sanche, assisted by Spencer Naas and Drydn Dow.
Heading into the last period of the game, the Devils started on the powerplay as Dundee’s Brendan Harms sat two minutes in the box for tripping.
Devils capitalised on the powerplay again with a goal from Tyler Busch assisted by Cody Donaghey and MacDonald for a 4-1 lead.
The assist on the previous goal wasn’t enough for MacDonald as two minutes later, he extended the Devils lead further, brilliantly going coast-to-coast for an unassisted fifth goal.
Sanche for the Stars threw a big hit in the corner on Ryan Barrow, in which his line mates then took exception too on his behalf, having words with Sanche which resulted in lots of pushing and shoving.
With Devils on the penalty kill after a roughing incident, the Stars grabbed another powerplay goal through Keanu Yamamoto, assisted by Kameron Kielly and O‘Connor.
Sanche then found himself dropping the gloves with Devils captain Joey Martin, after which they both received five minutes each for fighting.
Things then took a turn for the Devils as Macwilliam was sent to the penalty box for slashing in the 50th minute, a decision the home crowd certainly did not agree with.
Dundee then scored their third goal of the night at 50:16 through Dow and assisted by Naas and Tsekos.
From then on, the physicality remained as both teams pulled no punches and weren’t afraid to throw big hits to make decent plays.
The home-side found themselves in front of goalie Jarrett Fiske,and even ended up passing the puck along the goal-line to one another, resulting in a goal for Ben Almquist, assisted by Busch and Jarrod Gourley.
That sixth goal did not mean the game was finished for the Devils as they scored their seventh not long after when a rocket of a shot from Donaghey found its way to the back of the net.