It was a double winning weekend for the Cardiff Devils in Champions Hockey League action.
It was a double winning weekend for the Cardiff Devils in Champions Hockey League action.
After an impressive win on Friday night over Czech side Mountfield HK, they beat Graz 99ers in a shoot-out on Sunday to stay on top of the group standings after 2 games.
Pictured Below: Matias Sointu made his debut with the Devils on Sunday V Graz
Graz opened the scoring 4:05 into the game when Trevor Hamilton beat Ben Bowns just as a penalty to Charles Linglet expired. The Devils had 2 powerplay opportunities of their own to even the score in the first period, but Graz were up to the task and kept a blank sheet through 20 minutes of play.
Pictured Below: Graz celebrate their opening goal in the first period
The Devils tied the game up when Sean Bentivoglio slammed home a rebound off of a Linglet shot on goal to make it 1-1 at 23:50. Then at 31:07, defenceman Mark Louis corralled a puck in front of the net and fired it low past Cristopher Nihlstorp in net for Graz to put the Devils up 2-1.
Pictured Below: Devils celebrate Mark Louis' second period goal
The visitors tied the game up at 35:44 after the Devils were caught up in their own zone for an extended period of time and not being able to change. With the Devils trying to clear the puck, Phillip Lindner kept the puck in at the blueline and wristed a shot through traffic that beat Bowns to make it 2-2.
Pictured Below: Charles Linglet holds off a Graz defender
But the Devils were not done yet and with less than 2 minutes remaining in the middle period, Matt Pope sprung loose for a breakaway that was stopped by Nihlstorp, but Pope picked up the rebound and backhanded the puck from behind the net onto the stick of Mike McNamee who scored to put the Devils up 3-2 at 38:25.
Pictured Below: Mike McNamee's second period goal to take the lead
The Devils looked like they were going to hold on for the win in regulation time, but back to back penalties called against them eventually saw the Graz powerplay score to tie the game at 56:48 courtesy of Hamilton’s 2nd goal of the game.
Pictured Below: Sean McMonagle scores the only goal in the shootout
The 5 minutes of overtime couldn’t decide this one, so it went to a shootout. It took 7 rounds of shooters before anyone scored, but eventually Sean McMonagle got a goal for the Devils. Then Ben Bowns stopped the final shooter for Graz and the Devils and the near sold-out crowd at Viola Arena went nuts celebrating the Devils 2nd win in a row in CHL action.
Pictured Below: The Devils bench reacts to McMonagle's goal
Photo Credit: Dave Williams & Helen Brabon
