A 2 goal lead in the 3rd slipped from the Flames grasp as Cardiff Devils levelled late and forced overtime then penalties where they won it 5-4 with three Bode Wilde tiebreaker goals to cancel a pair of Flames strikes at the other end.
Cole Ully started the scoring for Devils at 5:56 but Austin Glover’s powerplay reply in the 16th minute levelled it at a goal each.
Early in the 2nd, Brett Ferguson converted another powerplay to set Flames in front. Joey Martin just over a minute later put a Devils powerplay to good use to square it again, but Matt Tugnutt’s goal at 25:15 then another powerplay success through Ben O’Connor at 32:31 put the home team up a pair to begin the 3rd.
About 7 minutes into the final frame, Brandon Alderson got one back to put Devils just a goal off the pace down the final stretch and they pulled fully even a little over 3 minutes from close through Wilde to set the stage for the extra stanza.
With 29 seconds remaining in the 4th, an intentional Flames net dislodgement awarded a penalty shot to Cardiff, but Taz Burman turned it aside to push the night to penalties.
Across the 5 shot round, Wilde and Brett Ferguson had the only markers ahead of sudden death shots where back to back Wilde goals overcame a single by Matt Alvaro as Tyler Wall got the better of Bradley Lalonde’s effort to keep the night going.
Aside from penalties, Taz Burman made 35 saves on 39 shots, while Wall was 33 for 37.
“It is unfortunate we couldn’t hang on to the lead or maybe tack one on to give ourselves the breathing space to win it in regulation because certainly the opportunity was there,” said Paul Dixon.
“It was two good hockey teams back and forth a bit all game and once you are tiebreaking, it is a bit of a coin flip and they just got the better of it.”
“We still picked up a point so didn’t go away empty handed for our efforts and we will now look ahead to next on the schedule.”
