Cardiff Devils 4 - 0 Fife Flyers

Faceoff: 18:00 - 11/11/12

Paul Bissonnette marked his home debut with another goal as the Cardiff Devils cruised to a 4-0 win over the Fife Flyers.

Face-off was delayed by almost half an hour to allow all the fans queuing outside to get in, and when they did they were treated to a physical and efficient Cardiff performance. Although all the talk had been about the NHLer, it was the Brits who shone in the early stages and gave the Devils the early lead. Luke Piggott scoring with a bullet of a slapshot after Bari McKenzie’s shot rebounded kindly to him.

Phil Hill’s absence due to GB duty and Max Birbraer’s continued ban meant the British players were given more responsibility and when Kyle Horne was sent to the bin for Tripping they took advantage on the powerplay. Once again Fife netminder was unable to hold McKenzie’s shot and this time it was Ben Davies who got to the loose puck first and flicked it through several bodies and into the net.

Cardiff were now in complete control of the game and when a shot from the blueline was deflected into the net it put to the Devils 3-0 up at the first period break, Chris Blight being adjudged to have got the last touch.

After such a dominant first period display, the Devils eased off the gas and took the opportunity to give young British defencemen Rupert Quiney and Chris Hart lots of ice time. They continued to create chances though and only a combination of the post and some great netminding by Bryan Pitton kept the Devils out.

Indeed, it wasn’t until the final period that Cardiff added to the score again. With Devin Didiomete in the bin it should have been Fife looking to get on the scoresheet, but the Devils were having none of it. Stuart MacRae stole the puck and setup Bissonnette who took one touch before firing the puck home.

In the final minutes the Devils focussed on defence and comfortably secured a 4-0 win with Phil Osaer recording a 24 shot shut-out.