A pair of Cardiff Devils goals 30 seconds apart late in the 1st period was all the home team would need, but they also added a last minute empty netter to move on to a 3-1 win over the visiting Flames.
At 15:32 Joey Martin set Devils in front and the immediate follow up by Justin Crandall turned out to be the winner.
A 37th minute powerplay goal by Ryan Tait cut Flames deficit to a single to start the 3rd which would time down with no scoring until Flames removed netminder Eamon McAdam with just over a minute to play and Cole Sanford found the empty cage 16 seconds from time to seal up the result.
McAdam made 27 saves on 29 shots while Ben Bowns for Cardiff was 31 of 32.
“That’s a tough game to lose because it was one of those nights where we could have won the game just as easily as we lost,” explained Paul Dixon.
“That is a top level, league championship calibre team over there, and you are not always going to get that little break you need to turn that kind of game in your favour. Last weekend in their building we did and this time we didn’t.”
“Honestly, there was not a lot wrong with anything we did or didn’t do but same is true for Cardiff and in the end only one team can win.”
“We are heading into the final month plus of the season not far off the top of the table, with plenty of room to try and take advantage of that, so we couldn’t ask for more than that. We have a lot of opportunities ahead and we are looking forward to getting ready this week to try and make the most of the games coming up.”
