League Record So Far; 22 – 12 – 2, 46pts, 4th Place
CARDIFF, WALES – Devils hosted an urgent and determined Storm that saw the, slip to 3 – 7 – 0 in their last 10GP in a bitter to end to a game that has left their title hopes hanging in the balance.
No longer is destiny in their hands after failing to secure another 2 crucial points, just days after the elation and hard work to emphatically secure a Challenge Cup Final berth. Questions are starting to be asked, in some respects, deservedly so.
Here is a breakdown of where it went wrong on a night they couldn’t afford to lose;
1. Bright start, bitter end
From the opening draw, it was all Devils. The top 6 cycling the transitions quickly, the blue liners sharp and passes were cutting through a Storm team that didn’t look prepped or had any sense of what to do with how dynamic and direct the Devils offense was.
It didn’t take long before Joey Martin tipped in a brilliant shot from MacWilliam to get the scores underway. It felt right, it felt like a big score night.
Then 43 seconds later, Chase Harrison found Ryan Hughes and levelled immediately. This was a taste for how much of the opening frame was going to be.
You score. I score. Rinse and repeat.
The period ended 3:2 to the good guys, despite an equaliser on the PP from the worst ranked PP of the league vs the leagues best PK.
This happened the last time they met in Cardiff too. Stats be damned when the Storm wants to play.
By the end of the 2nd, Storm equalised for the third time, just moments after terrific build up play, energy and puck control. Devils lead Storm 16:8 for SOG in the first.
Storm started to take the game on in the second and that is where it tiled, narrowly edged 12:11 for SOG. They converted and won that frame.
The third went down to the wire, the last 10 minutes was all them and they earned a good win. Devils had nothing left. That much was clear.
2. Storm physical, no answer from the home team
Storm are known for their intensity, which often draws the ire of opponents and sometimes their games are just chaos.
Devils have been a great team when it comes to physicality, from the forecheck to the shutdown play from their wingers and blue liners, they often crumple opponents, sometimes take game misconducts for simply being too good for their opponents in those moments, especially the officials.
Tonight however went differently.
It was a warning to how the game could go when Fournier failed to recover an easy puck along the boards, couldn’t find his skates, then got smushed against the glass.
He recovered in a stagger, bewildered of where he was, it didn’t look good. He fought to retake the puck, but made his situation worse. He came across sloppy, with no energy left and flailed about around the net.
Luckily there was no goal, but that shift rocked him.
Richardson got caught napping while looking to dump the puck in, hip checked hard, but his line mates never reacted to their captain getting wiped out.
Moments later, Duggan absorbed a charge from a forechecking Stormer, again no response.
There hits here and there from Olischefski, Barrow and MacWilliam, but more like momentum collisions. Nothing that sparked or created open space to use.
From the moment Fournier got reefed, the team became flat in the contact areas. Each battle was lost on the puck, they gave up the chases and eventually this lead to turnovers at the central slot and giveaways around their own net.
It lead to goals. Carruth can’t stop everything.
3. Passive play, easy breakaways
It is no secret that Devils play high risk, high reward, but with so many players out and the remaining with so much experience amongst them, this should be a manageable factor for their game plan.
The issue is when it inevitably fails and the structure breaks down. The fundamental factor in this is speed recovery.
This isn’t just coachable on the ice and accountable to the players, it is also a conditioning stand point. Factor in the amount of games played, average age of the team and missing players (which = more ice time) and slowly, those structures crumble and systems start to fail.
The game had a give and go feel to it, north-south, back and forth. Exciting hockey. Sometimes.
However, on the night, they were the authors of their own demise by not adjusting to a tried, tested and failing system against teams that will simply dig in, clog the central lanes and then when they can, pinch and go.
This can always be avoided by playing more direct, quicker zone transitions and passing less (just rewatch the highlights vs Steelers from Wednesday).
Slow the play at the blue line, move the puck up and down and eventually you will kill your own momentum, fizzle out the pressure that had been building and if too rigid, get caught flat footed.
A missed pass, errant back handers, poorly recovered puck, awkward positioning, lack of player awareness, it starts to add and when they pounce on the mistake, there needs to be a skater or two who can back check and recover.
Tonight wasn’t that night.
Usually this is the case, but the ones to rely on looked like there was lead in their skates. There was simply no urgency to recover or to even press when on the front foot.
Be it even strength or on the minimal power play chances, the speed was to a point that would make former Devil Matt Register look like Connor McDavid. It was that lethargic. Easy for the opposing team to bide their time then counter.
4. Schoonbaert fantastic with Barrow but missing the right Centreman
This was perhaps Brad Schoonbaerts best game as a Devil. He had poise, urgency, tenacity and complimented Barrow extremely well.
They created havoc, space, high danger opportunities and back checked as hard as they forechecked. He just needs that first goal and we should see an animal unleash.
Barrow, for his efforts was rewarded with his first goal in some time, later adding an assist. He had 8 shot attempts with 5 on net. They linked up with Duggan and Busch a lot, which was expected being short on skaters but if they had Ben Davies to create havoc with, this would be a dangerous line to send out.
Schoonbaert was great at creating turnovers and forcing giveaways and is strong on the puck as well. He just needs that nagging chip off his shoulder and there would be another selection headache for the coach, if he ever has a full roster to choose from this season.
5. Devils dug in, Gourley heroic, to what cost?
It was clear that energy levels, despite Storm playing the night before were draining faster than anyone would have liked.
This lead to some periods of being under pressure, not directly from build up play by the visitors, but with losing physical battles and passive, erratic shifts where the puck was pushed along instead of being controlled responsibly.
This lead to an easy goal for Storm and eventually the GWG before they pulled the goalie.
This also lead to a staggering 12 shots blocked from 9 different players, with 2 each by Duggan, O’Brien and Gourley.
Gourley jumped in the blue paint when Carruth was pulled wide and blocked a hard shot in the 2nd. He wasn’t seen again for the game, clocking just under 11 mins for TOI.
A worrying prospect for the current trend to players taking injuries this season.
Of the blocked shots, Storm managed 26 on net from 50 attempts in total. They shut out the Devils across 2 periods and certainly turned the screw, taking their chances when they could.
6. Five Different scorers for Storm, One to Watch new leader
Storm offered up goals from 5 different players from the top line and bottom six. Critchlow and D’Aoust put up numbers, with the latter collecting a brace of points to go ahead of the league leaders with 45 in regular season play.
All the visitors needed was a SHG to complete the circle of EVS, ENG, PPG on the night, which was a high probability.
Both teams featured two players with multi-point nights (each grabbing two) with Hinam (7) and D’Aoust (9) the most active around the net for their club. Only O’Brien had similar chances (9) but with more accuracy (89%), however he finished the night on -2.
D’Aoust was +2 for his efforts overall and seemed like the engine for his team.
7. Storm wanted it more, as Devils wilted away
From the chances created and SOG, you would be hard pressed to suggest the home team didn’t put in any effort.
The energy levels were indeed lacking, which lead to lacklustre performances and missed assignments across the lines.
To be honest, this was inevitable and it has been the prevailing cloud that has been hanging over them since that triumph in ‘Europe’.
59 shot attempts with 40 SOG, a hatty watch on the Goat and Barrow finding twine. This sounds like a standard effort by all purposes. Shot efficiency however told a different story, with the good guys hitting just 7.5% compared to the visitors with 19.23%.
Take your chances, always.
As mentioned, O’Brien put up 9 shot attempts, Sanford and Barrow each had 8, Busch with 7 and Martin 6. Each line had effort and presence around the Storm net.
However, the game ground on against a determined and physical Storm side, who looked like they were playing to stay employed rather than just trying to survive.
The Devils had some minutes pounded out there on the night, Sanford with 25:04 and O’Brien 24:55 alone. The top line played over 72 minutes combined. Usually, those numbers are soaked up by the top 2 blue liners.
That is the impact a depleted roster has. With sharper focus due to less shifts and more bodies to rotate and cycle, this would have been a different story. A different league table.
Storm just soaked it all up, pounced when they needed too and were afraid to attack the game, even when under pressure.
The effect of all that ice time and going another play down during the game was evident in the final play when Carruth skated to the bench for the extra man.
Out smarted, out hustled and out muscled.
8. First regulation win vs Devils for Storm this season
As mentioned in the preview, Storm have beaten Devils here before, but needed extras to secure it. This time, the game was done midway through the third and they didn’t look like losing once they took the lead for the first time in a back and forth road contest.
In both league and cup, Devils have won away, with the last time Storm took a regulation win in Cardiff was in November 2023.
Despite their league averages, they are dangerous and expressed that impeccably on the night. One to be proud of, as many of the away supporters were.
9. Carruth capable, time for Bowns to be trusted?
Carruth is no doubt an elite goalie that wants to win and do it properly. Some of the goals on the night were mistakes by those in front of him and often he was called upon for some sublime saves and assured catches with his glove.
He finished on 84 SV% on the night, with his average now at 91% this season after 13GP in the league. He is 14 goals against in his L5GP overall, taking two wins in the process.
He is now 9th overall in the SV% category. Bowns is still locked in 2nd with 5 more games played.
For GAA, he is 7th behind is fellow netminder with 2.79, however Bowns has only played twice in 2025 in the league, losing both.
The trusted tandem that many raved about at the start of the year had been rocked by consecutive injuries, so like with the rest of the playing staff, their season hasn’t been a cake walk.
Perhaps though, to help with resetting those inner wolves, it would be best to give Bowns a run out and possibly steady a rocked ship in turbulent waters (again).
10. Martin Magic, supporting cast needed
Within 20 minutes the arena and fanbase were on a Goat level hatty watch and boy did he come close. Aside from Sanford and O’Brien, Martin had some good accuracy for his shot attempts, netting twice from 4 SOG after 6 attempts.
He was sharp on the dots, winning 61.5% of them, 64% was the game average to the Devils. He was active defensively and unafraid to get physical when needed too.
He does great with MacDonald on his line, with Mosey there is added pace, however he needs that creative outlet to feed too. If MacDonald has driven the play, Martins first thought is who he can pass too and where. Unselfish, a team guy.
With such a depleted roster, he was missing that nose for net to pass too. Sanford would have been his man. They link up incredibly well and often dazzle when in the OZ.
Needs must for now, however, with Fife a long road ahead, switching up the lines might be a good idea to help create some new links, chemistry and form some gel together.
Netting a brace of goals would be a big boost for him, despite the loss. His experience and leadership amongst the forwards is needed now more than ever. But he is still doing the business.
Three Stars vs Storm;
HockeySteve Stats & Insights 
Leave a comment