Cardiff Devils 8 - 3 Dundee Stars

Faceoff: 19:30 - 20/03/12

Cardiff Devils continued their winning run against Scottish teams with a comfortable 8-3 victory over the Dundee Stars.

Cardiff had already gone close to scoring with a shot that hit the inside of the post before they finally broke the deadlock on the powerplay thanks to Scott Matzka. Despite their first period dominance, the Devils failed to add to their lead and when Dundee got a powerplay of their own, Jeff Hutchins fired in an equaliser.

Early in the second period, Cardiff restored their lead on another powerplay. Taking their time to cycle the puck around the zone before Scott Dobben picked out the unmarked Jeff Pierce and he quickly fired the puck into the roof of the net.

Once again the Stars fought back, and scored the fourth powerplay goal of the night at the midpoint of the game when Mark Kolonas rounded the whole defence before calmly firing the puck into the net.

It looked like the second period would end tied until a quick Devils counter-attack gave them the edge again. Stuart MacRae won the puck along the boards and after passing the puck out, Phil Hill changed the direction of the puck into the path of Pierce who beat Chris Whitley with one second remaining.

That goal seemed to give the Devils a lift during the break and when they returned to the ice their pressure on Dundee was relentless. After Mark Smith’s slapshot flew over the night, Ben Davies made sure he was first to the rebound to tap the puck into the unguarded net to make it 4-2 to the home side.

Another powerplay to Cardiff a minute later saw Matzka react quickest once again for his second goal of the night to extend the Devils lead to three goals. Almost straight from the resulting face off Dundee scored their third goal of the night thanks to Gary Wishart firing home after a mad scramble in front of Stevie Lyle’s net.

Any fears of a Stars’ fight back were quickly quelled though with the Devils’ 6th goal a minute later. The Dobben-Matzka-Harding line had been causing problems all night and after his line mates had both gone close, Dobben was first to a rebound to get himself on the scoresheet.

A powerplay to Dundee should have put the pressure back on Cardiff, but great forechecking by Stuart MacRae saw him steal the puck behind the net before setting up Jamie Vanderveeken for a short-handed goal.

With Joe Myers replacing Stevie Lyle in nets for the final five minutes, the best goal was saved until last. Ben Davies weaved in and out of several Dundee players before firing the puck low past Whitley to complete an emphatic 8-3 scoreline.