Cardiff Devils 2 - 3 Sheffield Steelers

Faceoff: 19:00 - 09/10/11

Cardiff Devils fought back from 2-0 down to earn themselves a point but ended up losing out in a sudden death penalty shoot out.

In a close and scrappy first period, Phil Hill went close to giving the home side the lead but with the goal seemingly beckoning his tip went just wide. Sheffield did think they had taken the lead but it was disallowed as referee Tom Darnell had clearly already blown the whistle due to penalties on Max Birbraer and Ryan Finnerty.

Sheffield started the second period much better than Cardiff and when they were gifted a two-on-one break, Stevie Lyle made a great initial save only for Rod Sarich to quickly hit in the rebound (26:22).

Within a minute the Devils let the Steelers break away again, and this time Ashley Tait passed across for Lee Esders to finish and double their lead (27:03).

Gerad Adams quickly called a time out and from that point on the Devils increased their work rate which had been clearly missing up to that point. Adams himself led by example, taking the puck into the Sheffield zone before releasing a shot that DeCaro in net couldn't hold. Chasing up his own rebound, Adams managed to get the puck back across the goal where Phil Hill eventually forced it over the line (31:25).

Hill nearly got his second moments later, when a quick shot from a tight angle beat DeCaro but hit the post and bounced back out to safety.

Cardiff dominated the third period, but DeCaro was in outstanding form, producing a series of stunning saves including one pad save at point blank range from Brad Voth.

Sheffield were struggling to handle the Devils and were starting to pick up penalty after penalty. With five minutes remaining, Cardiff thought they found an equaliser as a powerplay expired. Max Birbraer's shot through a crowd of player flew straight into the top corner only for the referee to disallow it for a player in the crease.

As time ticked down, Ashley Tait went into the bin for slashing and before that penalty expired Rod Sarich picked up 2+2+10 for attempted butt-ending. It gave the Devils just 4 seconds of a 5-on-3 powerplay, but with Stuart MacRae winning the face-off cleanly, Adams sent the puck across to Scott Dobben whose first-time slapshot whizzed into the top corner of the net.

Cardiff couldn't find another goal on the extended powerplay and the game went into overtime. The Devils came closest to winning it but couldn't force the puck over the line and in the dying seconds Chris Frank recieved 5+game for Slashing after clashing with Ashley Tait.

In the end the game was to be decided by penalty shots.Mike Ramsey, Steve Birnstill and Jeff Legue all missed for Sheffield but with Birbraer, Pierce and MacRae doing likewise for Cardiff, the game went into sudden death penalty shots.

This time Jeff Legue fired over Lyle and into the roof of the net, and when Max Birbraer fired wide it meant the Steelers would be travelling back to Sheffield with the win.