DEVILS LOSE IN OVERTIME TO STEELERS

The Devils were without Mark Richardson who has been out most of the pre-season and Josh Waller who picked up a knock the night before in Sheffield, which meant Chad Pietroniro was moved up to forward to take Waller’s place.  The only other change was Callum Booth starting in goal for the Devils instead of Ben Bowns.  The Steelers went with Matt Greenfield for the second game in a row.

The lone goal of the opening period came from the Steelers at 17:32. A slick passing play from Mitchell Balmas to Daniel Campini set up Patrick Watling with a wide open net to beat Booth.  The shots were 10-7 in favour of the Devils after twenty minutes, but they trailed 1-0.

The second period was all Devils as they took over the game outshooting the Steelers 17-7 and scoring three times to turn the game around.  After having a goal disallowed for goaltender interference, the Devils finally got on the scoresheet at 28:01 with a powerplay goal from Ryan Barrow who tipped in a shot from Trevor Cox to beat Greenfield.

Sheffield’s Kevin Tansey was ejected from the game at 29:16 when he ran Barrow into the boards resulting in a serious cut to the head for Barrow.  The resulting five minute powerplay saw the Devils take the lead through a rocket from Cole Sanford at 31:35 to put the Devils up 2-1.  With 1:10 to play in the period Cole Ully picked off a clearing attempt by Greenfield and fed the puck to Jamie Arniel who tucked it in for the 3-1 lead. 

The Devils were holding onto their lead midway through the third period until a penalty called on Trevor Cox for tripping allowed the Steelers back into the game.  They scored on the powerplay at 48:56 with Watling getting his second goal of the game to make it 3-2.  At 52:04, Kameron Kielly tapped in a pass from behind the goal line into a wide-open net to tie the game.  Regulation time ran out and the game headed into overtime.  The Devils had two great chances to end it, first from Cole Sanford and then from Jamie Arniel, but in the end, it was Scott Allen for Sheffield who took a pass from Mikko Juusola and beat Booth over his shoulder for the game winner at 62:34. 

Photos courtesy of James Assinder & Rebecca Brain