Weekend Preview; Steelers & Panthers

League Record So Far; 15 – 4 – 2, 32 points, 1st Place

Devils have a mini home stand this weekend as they face off against rivals Steelers in a big league clash then follow it up with an all important ‘decider’ in the cup against Panthers.

When it comes to high stakes, these games couldn’t get higher aside from them being cup finals, which they may as well had been.

Tale of the Tape

Both Devils and their Yorkshire foes have had a run of complacency of late, with the visitors hitting back to back losses for the second time this season. Devils have won twice in regulation in the L5GP, but picked up scant extras in two others, which on the broader view of things, should have been regulation wins as well.

Steelers have 3 regulation wins in their L5GP, however from the last two, they have struggled in every department, including being shutout in Belfast after thumping the Flames 9 zip in an earlier midweek fixture.

This will make the game on Saturday one of the most important for the league, as both teams will look to get into winning ways proper again, knowing a win against their rivals will spur them on again.

Devils had a considerable lead in the league cut away in the last few games, but nevertheless still have 8 points on their visitors, despite them having 3 games in hand.

Between the Pipes

The clash will feature the top two form goalies in the league to date, in Bowns with the top SV% of 93.74 and Greenfield with the top GAA at 2.11. Bowns’ GAA is 2.12.

Devils total GAA is at 2.14 with Steelers being the most prolific in scoring at 4.11. For GS, Steelers (78) lead the hosts by one and Devils are joint best defensively with 45 GA.

So, it is easy to suggest that these two teams are primed to have a big but close game.

It is fair to suggest their last meeting, where the hosts went 6 goals unanswered is one to thrown against the run of form, as Steelers had an injury crisis and a woeful injury replacement step in for their first game that night.

Injuries

This time around, Devils have an injury crisis of their own, with Shinkaruk out again for 4 weeks, not to mention the last weekend saw them run 3 lines of forwards.

Devils have won twice against the Steelers this season, one each in league and cup with one cup defeat and are yet to lose against them at home in competitive play this campaign.

Ryan Barrow was sidelined from an injury picked up vs Blaze and was awaiting a scan to see what the issue was.

Not quite an injury, but Martin was absent on Sunday due to an expected arrival, so might be on alert for this again this weekend.

Zach O’Brien was also absent due to personal circumstances last weekend, so unsure if he is ready to return yet, but hopefully he is okay.

Also sidelined are Josh Batch and Mac Carruth.

Ones to Watch

Josh Macdonald currently leads the league in points (25) and goals (13) and is on a 9 game point streak. He lead the club all last weekend when the lines were light, so will look to kick on and keep it rolling.

Steelers’ Mitchell Balmas, is two off Macdonald and is always a threat for his team. These two players are likely going to get some attention across the whole game.

Challenge Cup vs Panthers

Short story short, Devils need to avoid a regulation loss and they are at least through to the catastrophically repackaged quarter final ‘play-in’ game vs Clan.

Implications are huge and Panthers have had the Devils’ number all season. All games played have been in Nottingham so far, with two league 3:1 defeats and a 3:2 defeat in the cup.

This is just as much as well needed win as the game the night before, against their rivals, Steelers.

The visiting non-roaring species of mega feline are currently in 6th in the league but have been on a great run, one of the form teams right now, Giants leading the way overall in the last few weeks.

They have one OTL in their L5GP in the league, with their last reg loss in November vs Blaze. They did lose to Storm in the cup recently and have had 3 games needing more than regulation time to settle affairs in the competition.

This is likely to be a close game again, one that will provide tight marking and margins of error, with the goalies being the foundational piece to earning a win to whoever claims it.

Here is the expanded scenarios for the final cup game https://www.eliteleague.co.uk/article/4262-4-scenarios-heading-into-final-cup-group-game

Along with the aforementioned MacDonald, Sam Herr likes to score goals vs Devils but is yet to hit 20 on the season (regular) – with 3 Devils in the top 10.

In the cup top 20, there are no Panthers players, but toward the bottom of this list, Perlini (11) and Duke (10) feature, with both hitting some top form of late, in particular Brett Perlini, their top scoring Brit (16) in league and Cup. Only Scott Conway leads overall (36) in EIHL this season for the Brits.

No matter what happens, Ryan Bednard will be the man to beat, as he has one of the best stats in the cup next to Giants’ McCollum, so he will be the tough nut to crack for the home team, who will be needing the ‘6th man’ from across the stands to help them drive home and survive another round of the ill-fated and poorly organised competition.