Review vs Flyers; Key Points

League Record So Far; 25 – 15 – 2, 52pts, 4th Place

L10GP; 6 – 4 – 0

CARDIFF, WALES – Devils hosted a short benched and embattled Flyers road team, looking to avert disaster on a special day of celebration and pride for the club and country.

It was St. Davids day, patron saint of Wales and with a couple of added caveats. A special jersey to mark the occasion and a banner raising.

To add more excitement on top of that, as speculated before, the return of Riley Brandt was all but confirmed the Friday before, then on the day, a further announcement of Brett Perlini also returning.

Flyers had just 13 skaters for the trip. A tall order to contend with.

A first shut out on the season for Bowns

This one cannot be left for later. Even with the EIHL Face-Off Podcast and the Morning Chirps, it was picked up upon. Now, all three Devils goalies have had a shutout and for Bowns, being at home in his adopted country, on its national day, what a special shutout to have.

He faced down 19 SOG and in all fairness, was very lucky on a few of them, particularly as Devils didn’t want to rush to break up high danger plays, there were a couple of chances at the back door and directly in front of Bowns that Flyers couldn’t capitalise on.

That was Bowns’ 26th career EIHL shutout, all in Devils colours of course.

He also faced down a penalty shot on Chiodo to keep that shutout alive.

Returning players shown what was missed

It was already written that Perlini was sorely missed to help with depth production and provide a calming presence for the forwards group.

We know what Brandt brings, but it’s not just the crash, bang and wallop of humans against boards.

Perlini and Brandt both found twine in equally good fashion. Perlinis was a long range slot blast through Owen and Brandt finished off a high pressure cycle to snap the puck past Owen after a great turnover due to an unfortunate broken stick by the Flyers D.

Perfect returns for the players, providing a lot of relief across the bench and adding creativity when out on the ice.

Multi-point nights and a Captains reward

Club captain Mark Richardson was scratched for the game, to a shock of many as for the first time since early December, the Devils had a full (ish) squad to draw from, especially amongst their entrenched forwards group, which still has Schoonbaert, Duke and Shinkaruk sidelined (although, a Phil Kessel-esque figure was spotted at a developmental training session).

This lead to a welcomed announcement, especially on the day it was for Welshman, Ben Davies to lead the team with the captains crest on his shirt. He seamlessly skated around the Flyers all evening, helping that ‘Benergy Line’ tick and cause chaos each shift.

They did and that was what lead to the final note on a great night for them, adding a secondary helper to Brandts goal, with Duggan in the mix too.

Evan Mosey had another stellar night, using his pace and aggressive play to break up passing lanes, dominate the NZ and drive the puck into the OZ.

He picked up a brace of helpers on the night, needing just 6 more to reach 150 in all EIHL competitions. Mosey is having one of his best seasons in the EIHL, leading on the ice with every shift. If he returns next season, he has earned an ‘A’ for being a general out there.

Another who made a multi-point night was the Goat, Joey Martin, on the day his testimonial tickets went on sale. He, like Mosey has been leading on ice with a chip on their shoulders for the last few weeks. They know what it makes, what it takes.

That was his 10th multi-point game this season, collecting 12 goals and 11 helpers in those games. That is 63% of his total goals in regular season from multi-point games. GOAT, indeed.

First goal for new Devil, Almquist

Ben Almquist demonstrated his puck handling skills and quick hands to net the second of the night. The hardworking before that however, was all him. Relentless, unyielding and industrious. He battled hard to win the puck, found a line mate and stayed in the frame.

Parking himself back door, a weighted shot for a deflection from Busch found Barrow, but it spilled to Almquist which left Owen seething from being unable to recover quickly enough from the net battle in front of him.

He had arrived at a time when the pressure was reaching boiling point and started off on a rocky ship in turbulent waters across the Irish Sea.

In an interesting caveat, he is 100% at home in terms of points made. An assist on the first goal vs Steelers this week and a goal last night vs Flyers.

No pressure to end the season the way it started.

Implications

Flyers’ loss on the night has lead them all but unable to qualify for this years playoffs, adding the icing to a cake no one wants to share or eat.

Even if Stars lost all of their remaining games and Flyers went on a 13 game unbeaten run, they would still be 2 points shy.

With Storm taking 4 points during the weeks fixtures, they put themselves into a good position to challenge Stars for 8th, being 5 points short. If Storm win they keep that pressure up and Panthers need a win to qualify (57 points).

Devils have finally added some more credibility to their season campaign since that triumph which saw a banner raised, now at 6 points from second, with Steelers, who are already qualified in a free fall of late.

Things are hotting up.