Cardiff Devils 1 - 2 Sheffield Steelers

Faceoff: 19:30 - 14/02/13

Despite a battling performance, the short-benched Cardiff Devils were just edged out by the Sheffield Steelers on Valentines Night.

In a physical encounter it took just 32 seconds for the first fight of the game, Jesse Gimblett throwing punch after punch at Rod Sarich with the Sheffield player barely able to offer any reply. The fight gave the Devils an early confidence boost and less than a minute later they took the lead. Ben Davies won the face off and Rupert Quiney fired in a laser of wrist-shot for his first Elite League goal.

Cardiff dominated most of the first period and came closest to adding a second when Ben Davies was awarded a penalty shot, but he was unable to beat John DeCaro. The failure to add further goals was to cost Cardiff when Sheffield equalised early in the second period. Chris Whitley’s attempted clearance deflected into the path of Shawn Limpright, gifting the Sheffield forward an easy finish into the unguarded net.

The momentum had switched in the favour of the away side and just before the mid-point of the game the Steelers took the lead. A defensive mix-up gave Sheffield a 2-on-0 break and although Whitley stopped Jason Hewitt’s initial shot, Simon Ferguson was first to the rebound to give them the lead.

Whitley produced a series of good saves to stop Sheffield extending the lead, and after the break the Devils re-found their first period form. Despite heavily outshooting their opponents though they couldn’t find a way past DeCaro, and the Steelers were able to hang on for the win.