Weekend Review; Key Observations

Devils shut out Blaze then pull off an OT come back win in Nottingham to reverse last weeks’ results for a max point weekend in the league

League Record So Far; 2 – 0 – 0, 4pts, 2nd Place

Following a tense and tightly checked home game vs Blaze on Saturday night, where Devils shut out a team they struggled to overcome so far in the Cup, the travelled northward bound to Nottingham to dance with a record they always wish to forget.

Blaze Denied

The games vs Blaze and Panthers last weekend were embarrassing and rightfully a focus to overcome and put in the rear view mirror after a week of soul searching, accountability and hard graft to get ready for another bout against the same teams.

Against Blaze, Devils were made to work until the very end to see a pay off, after an early opening and would be GWG by returning great, captain and Goat, Joey Martin.

With two ENG’s, this sealed the deal and earned a valuable two points to start their campaign in good fashion. It was just the trip to Nottingham being the next hurdle.

Devils Defiant

Journey made without delay, they had to endure a build up of self bewilderment that the home team are indeed, the ‘Nottingham Panthers ?!’ – something that always curls the lip in the enunciation of that build up.

Then, the other part they had to endure. A ‘banner raise’ to commemorate their 2025 playoff final triumph over the Devils. Once the reveal/unveiling of the banner was complete, game on.

For a time.

An unfortunate incident with the home bench team doctor delayed proceedings for up to 10 minutes, then shortly after, from a goal bound set up deep in the home DZ, goalie Kevin Carr kicked off his net, then shortly after that, his bucket needed some attention.

There was even a power break after this. Not that it was needed.

Eventually, a game of hockey broke out.

Key Moments at the Motorpoint

The go ahead goal by Harris from Doherty was a sore point for an onlooking defence man, as the communication behind their own net broke down and a far too easy giveaway was gifted to the tape of the Panthers forwards for a swift finish on Bowns.

It was against the flow the of the game, with Devils far more productive and assertive off the puck. For a team that has already lost to date 52 from 70 meetings there, it seemed the inevitable was starting to close in fast.

Minutes later in the 2nd, it seemed to have been a nail in the coffin for the road team, as Fossier shot on net while under pressure from Mosey, with a leg pad save by Bowns, as they clashed together.

The call: a penalty shot.

For Panthers and ‘neutrals’ that might prefer to see Devils lose, good call. For Devils fans and more objective neutrals, that was questionable, even the home team comms thought so.

Fossier, with a sublime, slowly built up sequence five holed Bowns and the home team were in the ascendency.

It was a sour point, as by the end the 2nd frame, the road team were trying to scale a seemingly impassable mountain.

Unwanted records continued

After 5 periods of hockey between these teams in one week, Devils put up 110 shots with no reward.

Quite the record.

In that process, they also went 7 goals vs Panthers, unanswered.

To compete in this league, on the road, at home and against last seasons’ top 3, that is unacceptable, no matter the changes.

Something had to give, even by law of averages, Devils were overdue a goal, desperately.

Carr stood the test, but eventually, came undone

This materialised in the 3rd, with a sprawling effort by Carr leaving a wide open net for Brandt to tap home for his second goal of the weekend.

Then, after a lot of pressure, bending Carr as far they could, Bowns was pulled for a 6 on 5 man advantage, which paid off, as a Barrow tip called a tied game with 60 seconds left on the clock.

Not long after this in OT, where Devils never let up, including a huge back checking effort by MacDonald, Barrow combined with his Denver Pio brother Olischefski to tap home on Carrs weakest side, the short side from a counter rush to seal the deal and a comeback win.

It was a perfect response to start the league campaign the same way they had with the cup under coach Thompson, who is now 2 from 2 in Nottingham as the Devils head coach. Now that is a record.

So, let’s run down the stats.

Until Brandts goal that cut the home lead in half, it took the team 130 attempts at net to find a goal in almost 114 minutes of hockey in less than a week.

144 shots in total across the two games, with 86 on net. 59.7% on target and only 3 goals from that, for a 5% shot efficiency score over those bouts.

It was an incredible feat, with Carr being a veritable nightmare for all of the Devils skaters who faced him down.

Following the dire amount of real estate wasted trying to find a way past, they scored 3 goals from 14 attempts after the Brandt goal. Less than 1 in 5. Quite the turn around and what a way to rebalance a long overdue rebate.

Thanks to the penalty shot being awarded to the home team, Panthers have now gone back to back games without a single penalty, which is a rare feat for this league, especially against a team that has a particularly poor discipline record.

Barrow and Fournier both picked up a brace of points on the road, with goals to Barrow and two secondary assists to Fournier.

Perlini’s assist on the Brandt goal made it 3 points on the weekend for the veteran Brit, combining 3 times from those games, across 6 goals. Effective indeed.

Nolan Yaremko also picked up his first point in a few games, but hasn’t scored since the 7:1 demolition of Flames on the 19th September. He is currently on a 7 game cold streak for goals, but in all EIHL competitions, he is on 8 points from 10GP.

Similar to Perlini, Ryan Barrow, the hero of the weekend and rightfully so, has also put up 3 points for the start of the league campaign. This adds to the 6 he has picked up in the cup, making it 9 points from 10GP in all EIHL competitions so far this season.

He is two points from his all time best in the EIHL Challenge Cup and one from his best as a Devil so far, with 2 cup games to go in the group alone. He is certainly on pace to exceed his best as an EIHL’er this season.

Whilst Brandon Estes is still on 11 points from 10GP across both EIHL competitions, he is currently on a 3 game pointless skid, whilst averaging 26:41 so far for TOI. Big minutes, so I don’t see this skid lasting too long.

Case in point, Fournier went on a 3 game skid before picking up a brace of assists on the night vs Panthers. He is currently at 0.50 points per game pace in both EIHL competitions, with a steadily increasing TOI return. He needs just 12 more EIHL games to reach 350 as a defence man and 19 more points for 300. Very achievable this season.

Riley Brandt has certainly taken advantage of his new role as a third line winger this season, starting his league campaign with a terrific record, going 2 goals from 2GP. He is just 3 from last seasons regular campaign effort, which is the most of his pro career (5), in a single regular season.

MacDonald put in a monumental effort to deny a breakaway chance in the closing moments of the game, without conceding a penalty, arguably the move that laid the foundation for the win. He has been particularly quiet so far this season, after 10GP across both EIHL competitions, putting up only 2 goals.

His last goal came from a shutout win vs Storm in the cup, since then, he has been on a pointless streak across 5 games.

Ben Davies had arguably one of the best starts to a season in his long pro career, putting up 3 goals and one helper in as many games, Since that Flames game, he has hit a 7 game pointless skid.

Joey Martin’s next milestone would be 500 EIHL games, which would be vs Steelers without interruptions. He scored the GWG on his comeback from a nuisance of an injury on Saturday vs Blaze, taking his tally to 4 goals in 6GP this season. He is also 8 points from 550 EIHL all time. What a record. More to be made.

Finally, Cole Sanford, praised and famed for being ‘Goal’ Sanford, is currently at 9 points from 10GP, however with just 3 goals scored. He too is on a pointless streak, now extended to 3 games, with no goals since the game vs Flames, extending to 7 straight.

So, amongst the results, which is the most important, there are still lingering concerns of when the monumental efforts would turn into something of a reward for this group.

They are yet to truly get going, so with the season being only 10 games in, plenty of hockey to come would soon flesh out what will become of these players and if they can turn up the gears and drive the team ahead in the championship race.

Three Stars of the Weekend