Post-Game Review vs Giants & Panthers Preview

League Record So Far; 14 – 3 – 1, 29pts, 1st Place

Devils fall against Giants in overtime in a frustrating night of hockey for the home fans, where many felt it was a point stolen, rather than a consolation, earned.

The game started as expected, even without GB forward Sam Duggan and no sign of Shinkaruk, but the momentum was killed when a rare Giants set up in the DZ ended with a marker to open the game against the flow of play.

This was a signal for things to come for the entirety of the night, as players failed to mark up, track or contest defensively, aside from MacWilliam, who even drew in some friendly collateral after a huge hit on the boards sent his opponent into Tyler Busch, in turn with him flailing backwards.

His greatest contribution to the game at that point.

The soft passes, pushing the puck instead of controlling it, blind back hand passes, blind back hand reverse spin passes, high danger no look passes across the DZ slot, no look bank passes, icing from not getting near the red line, despite being in control of the puck with no pressure.

Everything a hockey player shouldn’t do, was checked off that list in full within 12 minutes of game time. This meeting went all the way to 63 mins.

Each battle was lost, from puck retention, to rebounds either way, corralling the puck, board battles and open ice puck battles.

It seemed like if a player had the puck, they wanted to get rid of it quickly and were hesitant to take the puck, creating miscues, whiffed shot or pass attempts, lack of positional or game flow awareness. Genuinely chalk and cheese compared to their last few games.

It made the visitors look strong, structured and good.

The only player on the ice, aside from MacWilliam, who made a consistent, solid and determined effort was Giants goalie, Jackson Whistle.

He was phenomenal.

Even when, late in the game, Devils found a way to get the puck through him, he stood stoic and strong between the pipes and his performance laid the foundation for the win.

This was Giants second win vs Devils this season. In games where for large stretches, they never controlled the game flow. Just soaked it up and pounced.

The SOG were pretty even, but Devils outshot their visitors in each frame in this area, with Whistle making 38 saves on the night. In total, Giants tilted them 67:56 for total shots.

A double positive for the Devils was that they found power play success after a reviewed goal for suggested high sticks, but it was given and their marker brought some life back into their game, but 10 minutes later, the third for the visitors went in through Bowns’ glove.

The PK was terrific, boosting Devils to 88.24%. So, even without Duggan there, they managed to stop the visitors from capitalising on the man advantage. The Devils now have a modest and average 20% on the PP, ranked 9th overall in the league.

Much was said about discipline pre-game and those factors have largely been unchanged overall, despite a tragic and inconceivable decision for a check to the head to be given a 2 minute penalty.

I would imagine this would be reviewed by DOPS again, as the message should be clear, as per IIHF rule book 48.1, “There is no clean check to the head or neck area”. This should be treated as absolute for player safety.

Other than this decision, the officials had a decent game. They left things go on both sides, opting for the players to settle the game instead. They made reviews when they should have done, even with the former being made, they can’t always get things right.

In OT however, this was a case of if you control the puck, you should win. There was a brief moment in a turnover and break away for the good guys, but this was quickly snuffed out and the resulting play ended in the game being settled. It was deserved by the visitors, even though they weren’t truly tested.

Had the home team played like they did the previous week, this would have been a rout for them. A truly missed opportunity there but a point was gained from a decent enough comeback to send it to OT.

However, the end of the game painted a picture.

One team wanted that win. The celebration, albeit a little pathetic as it was a 2 goal lead wasted, with an OTW outcome, it shown what it meant to that group.

The home team. They looked disinterested (likely not the case) but actions and reactions speak louder than words. There may have been perseverance to pull it back. Character is formed by pride and the amount of each is measured by what you put into something.

A 4 minute spell late in the third isn’t it.

My Three Stars vs Giants

Third Star; Pierre-Olivier Morin – GWG in OT and a helper, just pushed out Olischefski here (2G) as his contributions made the most impact, he cannot be ignored.

Second Star; Andrew MacWilliam – 3 Blocked shots, the Sheriff of Cardiff put in some heavy duty work, with a stack of hits and brilliant break up play defensively.

First Star; Jackson Whistle – 38 saves, a stellar performance in the blue paint, 92.11 SV%. Back stopped his team to the win.

Final Thoughts

No doubt there will be plenty of learning curves from this game and the coach will put things to rights, as can always be expected.

Luckily with this sport, as any other, there are immediate chances to get back up, dust things off, rise up and start again. Chasing progress is the key to creating a winning culture, not perfection. This was just one of those games.

The team are still top of the league with a good lead, despite some teams with games in hand and they have great foundations. Next up is the next test.

Nottingham away.

Preview vs Panthers

As night follows day and water is wet, Devils lose in Nottingham is a famous saying, that echoes in time as many would say in South Wales.

Whether it is a cult like phenomenon or populist view, the data backs it up.

Tale of the Tape (& Injury News)

Their previous meeting in the cup went to the home side after a long delay on the road, then the meeting after that, another was caused by a traffic delay again.

Each time, the Panthers earned the W.

Both games were pretty close, 3:2 in the cup and 3:1 in the last league clash. The road however, with an additional injury to Brandt from the previous night, announced that they have activated Hunter Shinkaruk to resume playing duties.

This is not a drill. It is happening. Finally.

There may or may not have been a successfully unsuccessful pitch to media streaming giants such as Amazon Prime, Discovery+, Paramount+ and Netflix for a docuseries entitled, ‘Hunting Shinkaruk‘ where every day ‘theorists’ search high and wide for evidence he actually does play for the club.

It was very close to happening.

Whether this helps to provide a missing edge to the teams ability to produce at a higher level and bring home points is to be seen.

This is a big locker room move nonetheless.

Both teams have run with very similar records in the last 5GP, each with an OTL last night (Devils first this season) and 4 wins prior to that. Panthers have an OTW in their run going 3 – 1 – 1, with Devils at 4 – 0 – 1.

This is an earlier face-off too, so would have been an immediate travel situation for the road team, hopefully no disruption along the way this time.

Both clubs in the L10GP are amongst the top in terms of form, with Devils holding the edge in this factor, but this will be an awesome battle that the hosts will certainly want to get the advantage of, to help them move into title chasing contention.

There are 12 points between the teams, with the hosts having 2 games in hand, so it is a massive affair for them. The Devils will be looking to bounce back and maintain their grip on their spot for another week, as well as skating home victors like they did last season.

One to Watch

Devils trio O’Brien, MacDonald and Sanford all have the same points in league so far at 21.

Panthers talisman and points leader, Sam Herr sits 17th in the top 50 with 16 points and enjoys scoring against the Devils. Panthers next highest points scorer is Kristoff Kontos at 39 overall with 13, there are 4 more Devils players after Herr in this group.

The overarching feeling for this is it will be a battle, with both teams going the extras last night and a tough turn around for travel for the Devils. They made 16 blocked shots last night vs Giants and are once again building injuries, but having a big player like Shinkaruk back might turn this for them.

It will be a great game either way.