Devils Victorious in Scotland

Cardiff Devils 4 – Edinburgh Capitals 2

Following the demolition job of the league leaders the Nottingham Panthers on Saturday the Devils made the gruelling trip North all the way to the Scottish Capital of Edinburgh to take on Doug Christiansen’s new look Capitals team.

The game started slowly and slightly scrappy and set the tone for the entire evening, having lost 9-2 on the Friday evening Edinburgh looked bereft of confidence, while Cardiff looked tired after a long journey and a huge effort the night before. Despite the scrappiness of the game the Devils managed a cycle going in the offensive zone, this little bit of pressure found the puck fall to Jason Stone who while not hitting the hardest slap shot in the world, found a deflection in front of net for the puck to go past Cody Rudkowsky.

However the lead lasted less than 2 minutes, the capitals regenerated and the ever improving and impressive Mark Garside found himself all alone in front of net and slotted the puck past Stevie Lyle. The first period petered out with a whimper after the goal with Edinburgh not mustering enough momentum from the goal.

The second period followed pretty much the exact same passion, and never really got the game into life; both teams played an open game but lacked the correct conviction to give the game a spark. The Devils did however manage to strike on the powerplay, a shot from the point was saved by Cody Rudkowsky but Jay Latuillipe was jonnie on the spot to force the rebound home. This was the biggest talking point of the second period.

The third period started with Cardiff Striking almost immediately, Phil Hill floated over the Capitals Blue line and collected the puck, with it seemingly not under full control Hill threw it at net, this seemed to catch the Capitals goaltender by surprise and the puck ripped the back of the net. Devils lead 3-1.

The Capitals from here looked disheartened and the Devils never seemed in danger of losing the game, even when Mark Garside again found himself with a clear shot on net and banged it home to make the game 3-2 to the Devils it never seemed like the Capitals truly believed they could get anything from this game. And so as a list ditch attempt the Capitals pulled Rudkowsky for 6 skaters, it was a futile effort however as the puck broke out of the Capitals zone to Max Birbrear at centre ice, he shot but hit it wide, luckily the puck fell to Matt Miller who rounded off a fantastic weekend for both himself and the Devils to seal a 4-2 win in the Scottish capital.