A pair of unanswered goals in each of the first 2 periods helped Cardiff Devils build a 4 goal lead through 40 minutes before cruising the rest of the way to an eventual 4-0 win over the visiting Flames.
The home side jumped on Flames early thanks to Joshua Waller at 4:56 and a powerplay strike by Cody Donaghey before the period was halfway through.
Donaghey converted another powerplay in the 34th minute. A Cole Sanford follow up with just 15 seconds to go in the 2nd had the men from Wales in full command up by 4 ahead of a scoreless final set that closed out the contest.
Eamon McAdam turned aside 22 of 26 shots against Ben Bowns at Cardiff’s end who was perfect on the 35 shots put his way.
“We got off on the wrong foot early not only falling behind but failing to cut into the relatively minor deficit when we had the 1st period 5 on 3, then back to a one man advantage and again struck out on the powerplay that followed right away after that,” explained Paul Dixon. “From there against a team of that quality it is a heck of an uphill road battle.”
“On the other hand, Cardiff used their powerplays to good effect to widen their lead and they played a great 60 minutes to send us home without points.”
“We are back at it Sunday at home, and we are going to have to forget about this one and get ready to go against another good side in the Belfast Giants.”
