Game Review; Devils Weather Storm for Confident Win

League Record So Far; 5 – 1 – 1, 11pts, 3rd Place

CARDIFF, WALES – Devils faced off against a determined Storm team with a sharp focus on playing their game, avoiding the penalty box and loading up in front of net.

A ket focus would have been to convert on the power play and for top 6 forwards to click and send the biscuit to the back of the net.

Despite a good start, Storm grabbed the lead from an errant play after Devils camped deep in the OZ, allowing Gary Haden to breakaway and snipe one through Stoever.

That was the last of their offense for the evening, as Devils dominated the middle frame, then build on it throughout the third.

Eventually, the key check marks got ticked, with some fine play to create the goals past a resolute Weninger, who kept his team in the game across the entire slate, until he was pulled late during a late power play advantage.

Here are the key moments from that win vs Storm;

1. Power play on the board, Sanford gets his reward

They had a double minor penalty to take advantage of, following a high stick on Barrow, which lead to the perfect way to reset the tone and establish their PP units.

So far, they have gone 6 hours in league play without a PPG, from 14 attempts. Overall, nearly 3.5 hours since their last PPG overall, a solitary goal in their cup loss vs Steelers.

Prior to that, you would have to go back to the start of October for their last PPG, which in the cup was 20% and rate of every other game played.

He is only 3 points in league play this season, but a fortuitous smash and grab goal vs Blaze snapped a 10 game scoreless skid overall and now, he broke the other unwanted streak for the Devils’ power play, Sanford now 2 goals in his last 3GP and 3 points in his last 4GP.

The power play unit saw Perlini command almost the entirety of it, but this time it started with pace and they were duly rewarded, even up to the end of the follow up penalty, the shot count spoke for itself.

It is worth noting that since the initial conversion of the PPG, they are now 0:3 for the rest of the night, but at least they hemmed in the PK and spent most of it on the front foot.

The same line for the power play, also converted on the 3rd goal, mainly as they scored just after another concluded, which was very close to 50% for them and their team.

Estes moved like a demon possessed up the boards, gaining the zone with ease, Perlini marshalled the mid slot and NZ with authority, allowing Sanford, Olischefski and Martin to ask questions of the opposing goalie and keep the defending PK unit guessing.

This should add some confidence for this unit, who looked comfortable and confident going to net and keeping the puck active.

2. Shuffled lines allowed for some more headaches

Following the defeat in Belfast, it seemed inevitable that some tweaks would be made in the line up, as even the coach was evidently unhappy in not enough grade A chances being not just made, but taken.

MacDonald was sent to the third line, with Olischefski on the 2nd and Yaremko up to the first line. Each line had pace, veteran presence and creativity, with Mosey back on the blue line.

MacDonald responded excellently, with some unbelievable bad luck on a breakaway vs Weninger and some other moments where you would bank your entire mortgage on him scoring close range.

The last few games had seen a total of 8 shots made by the forward, which alluded to the frustrations of the coach. In this game, he put up 11 shot attempts, his busiest night so far in regular season. With 45.5% shot accuracy, it was good to see him industrious again, however, he heads to Guildford on a 4 game scoreless skid.

Brandt gained an assist on the game winning goal by Mosey, with a sublime pass that clearly had some extra mustard on it, as Mosey sniped it home, but it was the work before the pass was dished that made it happen.

Brandt was active offensively all night, however it was off the puck where he helped to make things happen for his team. Not with playing the body either.

He should have gained them a man advantage after being slew footed, even taking a slash prior to that which went uncalled, you would be expected to think, he would have gone after those players for retribution.

Instead, he got on with things, be it back to the face off line, to the bench or to find his man for the play and look to turn them over again.

He picked so many pockets on the night, it created the right confusion, allowing to draw skaters to him, which allowed for open space for line mates to skate through, case in point, the Mosey goal.

It also nullified attacking threats from Storm and they had no answer for it.

3. Olischsefki under way, is this another beast, unleashed?

Much has already been said about Barrow, Brandt and the quality of Estes, with many concerned of the lack of return from Kohen Olischefski.

Not since September 27th vs Storm has he scored, with 1 point in 10 games overall in the EIHL.

He finally snapped that streak with a great drive to net from broken play along the blue line, as the PP concluded. Instead of blindly dumped the puck along the half boards and looking for a change, he recovered the biscuit and knew the net was hungry.

Its keeper wasn’t ready either, as he cut across the slot and tucked it short side to get them further ahead. His offensive production has been pretty telling, as he literally went 1:2:3:4 in the last 4 games, showing good things happen when you go to net.

Could this be what he needs to really get his season going? Playing in a cage is still weird to see, but he plays more dynamically with the puck and creates a lot of space for his line mates, so along with Sanford, this might be the start of more things to come.

4. Perlini quietly going about some good business

He has found players in key moments throughout the season so far, but always seems to be less spoken of. That isn’t a bad thing for a player or even an on ice official. He has immense hand eye control, incredible edge work on his skates and can turn a nothing play into a stand raiser with his hands.

He is the only player currently on a point per game pace for the Devils, with 2G and 5 helpers in the last 7 league games played and each time he has contributed, good things happen.

Just two games he failed to contribute, as his team failed to gather the points for a win, in games vs Giants and Clan.

Meaning, to date this season, when he records a point, they might just win.

He also played on all power plays, even the double minor at the start taking little shifts off, he seemed to always be out there. A puppet master pulling the strings.

Perhaps he is the new QB for the PP. If so, it works.

5. Scoreline not reflected in dominant display

I would have to strongly disagree with the comms from the match night, that the team won through a confident, dominant effort, rather than by the skin of their teeth.

Yes, the scoreline was settled by a single, very late goal.

However, the tale of the tape tells a different, more prudent story.

After the first frame, Storm lead in SOG 8:6. After the 2nd dance, Devils went into the second intermission 20:3 in SOG.

Overall, the game saw 72 shot attempts made by the good guys, with just 30 by the visitors. Less than the weighted average across the league.

The Corsi % for the Devils was 70.59%. That is far from skin of their teeth territory.

Massive credit has to go to Evan Weninger, who ended his night on 91.2 SV% from 34 attempts on net. Over the 102 shots in total, Devils stifled the Storm offense to just 16 on target.

Truly dominant.

Three Stars of the game vs Storm;