BOWNS STOPS 27, COX WITH THE OVERTIME WINNER

The Devils continued their Scottish road trip on Sunday in Glasgow, facing the Clan for the second time this week after playing them on Wednesday in the Challenge Cup.  Ben Bowns got the start in the Cardiff net and Antti Karjalainen was in net for Glasgow. 

The Devils were once again without Joey Martin and Ryan Barrow who are both injured, and Chad Pietroniro who is serving a 3 game ban.  Glasgow welcomed back their star forward Charlie Combs who has been out injured since their first pre-season game against the Devils back on September 9^th. 

Ben Bowns was the busier of the two netminders in the opening 20 minutes of play, facing 15 shots compared to the 7 the Devils threw at the Glasgow net.  An early huge save from Bowns saw him slow to get up and it looked like he might be replaced by Tyler Wall, but Bowns shook it off and stayed in the game. 

Jamie Arniel scored the only goal midway through the period to give the Devils a 1-0 lead.  Cody Donaghey’s initial shot from the blueline was saved by Karjalainen but Arniel was there to pounce on the rebound and tuck it in at 10:03. 

Justin Crandall continued his hot streak with a goal at 23:34 set up by Arniel to give the Devils a 2-0 lead.  Darien Craighead pulled one back for the Clan at 27:47 with a nice dish from Robert Lachowicz who was almost behind the net before he made the pass.  Then at 37:39 after a scramble in front and a couple poor clearing attempts by the Devils, Lachowicz fired a loose puck between the legs of Bowns to tie the game 2-2. 

The third period saw the Clan outshoot the Devils 9-4, but Bowns was on top form and kept his team in it more than a few times with huge saves to keep it 2-2 after 60 minutes of play, which meant overtime. 

The Clan won the opening draw but eventually Cole Sanford stole the puck and circled back into the neutral zone.  He placed the puck onto the stick of Marcus Crawford who took it into the Clan zone and dropped it for Trevor Cox who fired through traffic and into the back of the net for the game winner just 52 seconds into the extra period.

Ben Bowns was the Man of the Match with 27 saves from 29 shots.  That was the third win in Scotland this week after beating the Clan on Wednesday in the Challenge Cup quarterfinal, then beating the Dundee Stars on Saturday night. 

Photos courtesy of Al Goold