DEVILS WIN IN GLASGOW TO END CLAN’S SEASON
The Devils made some line-up adjustments for Sunday night, replacing Ben Bowns in net with Tyler Wall and moving Evan Mosey up to forward, which meant River Rymsha would be back into a regular rotation on defence.
The Devils didn’t take long to get on the board scoring just 1:55 into the first period. Marcus Crawford passed across the blueline to Rymsha who whiffed on the shot, but the trickling puck was re-directed by Joey Martin and somehow found its way through the legs of Antti Karjalainen and into the back of the Glasgow net.
A great transition led to Ryan Barrow and Jamie Arniel combining to put the Devils in front by two when Arniel walked around Karjalainen and tucked it in to make it 2-0 at 13:31. With under 4 minutes to play, Mark Richardson found Trevor Cox low in the Clan zone and he immediately touched it to Cole Sanford who had a wide open net to shoot into, making it 3-0 at 16:21. The Devils outshot the Clan 12-5 in the opening 20 minutes although when called upon Tyler Wall had to make a couple of big saves to keep a blank sheet.
The Devils were on the penalty kill early in the second period when Ryan Barrow took a cross-check from Cody Sol but was called for embellishment. The Devils killed it off but at 30:30 they were back on the penalty kill when Rymsha was called for hooking. A huge one-timer by Charlie Combs tested Wall in net but once again the Devils were able to kill off the penalty.
Marcus Crawford opted to fire the puck the length of the ice and Chad Pietroniro chased it down and as the puck bounced off the back boards, he hammered it past Karjalainen to put the Devils up 4-0 at 34:32. On the ensuing face-off, the Clan came straight back to get on the board with a rocket from Darien Craighead, making it 4-1 at 34:46.
Joey Martin set up Cole Sanford with a nice pass to send the Devils’ leading goal scorer in all alone on Karjalainen and he deked around him for his second goal of the game at 38:57. Again the Clan came right back and cut the lead back to 3 goals with 2 seconds remaining in the period when Charlie Combs batted in his own rebound to make it 5-2 after 40 minutes of play.
A wild third period saw the teams combine for six goals, the first coming for the Clan at 42:06 through Matt Barry to make it 5-3. Just over a minute later, Evan Mosey finished off a pass from Riley Brandt and beat Karjalainen to restore the three goal advantage.
Jordan Cownie beat Wall at 46:46 to make the scoreline 6-4 but a penalty shot given to Mosey resulted in the Devils’ 7th of the night. Charlie Combs scored another for the Clan at 51:47 to make it 7-5 with just over 8 minutes to play. Glasgow was throwing everything at the net, coming close a handful of times with deflections or rebounds that were directed wide.
Clan Head Coach Jason Morgan pulled his goalie with just over two minutes to play but the decision did not pay off. Ryan Barrow scored into the empty net to make it 8-5 with 41 seconds left to play, which means the Clan finish in dead last and do not advance to the playoffs.
Photos courtesy of Al Goold
