Devils on the Road: Scottish Triple Header – Must Win Final Game

Scottish Triple Header Boils Down to Must Win Game vs Flyers

League Record So Far; 7 – 3 – 1, 15pts, 3rd Place

L10GP; 6 – 3 – 1

KIRKCALDY, SCOTLAND – The long awaited Scottish triple header finally got scheduled, to the excitement of many travelling Devils fans, with the expectation of at least 2 wins out of the three consecutive games.

It was a choice requested by the players, to avert home then away on the road to Scotland travel, which following an enormous weekend of results against the champions and champions-elect, this was a mouth watering set of fixtures for all involved with the Cardiff Devils.

Over 300 fans travelled, to make their memories, drink to merriment, explore Scotland, visit the arenas and be there to roar on their team.

They certainly done their job, bringing an atmosphere to Braehead and Dundee Arena’s for the first time both clubs would have seen in a very long time.

The support and noise was unmatched across both fixtures, until the very end of both games.

However, expectations seldom reflect reality and with expectation, it often brings disappointment. This didn’t fail to materialise. As the fans met their ‘job’ expectation, the players however, have failed to deliver.

The Story in Glasgow

A sluggish, unstructured start for the Devils saw them held a goalless outcome after the first stanza. They were outshot 15:7 by their hosts who were able to set up and put Bowns under pressure, with the visitors in red, only finding iron.

There was an easy pattern to discern very early on, which happened to set the tone for the following 5 periods, leading into Sundays showdown with Fife.

Gaining the zone (eventually) and doing absolutely nothing to generate chances.

You could credit Clans’ defensive set up and structure, however, the visitors often found themselves able to gain entry into the OZ, but the lack of prowess to put Aittokallio under pressure allowed the home defenders to box out the forwards along the boards and keep them off the blue paint.

Early on in the second, the home team found themselves up against the flow of play, after a misjudged ‘stoppage’ saw the puck sneak under Bowns.

This became a point of contention during and long after the game, however for the wrong reasons. Even the EIHL felt the need to back their officials and praise the call after review. Although that was contentious in itself.

Again, brought up for entirely the wrong reasons.

There was no goalie interference, which was the reason for their review. Albeit, not a single soul in the arena knew that was the case, as the speakers were too quiet and Devils fans were drowning out the home crowd and the comms.

The initial call to freeze the play was the issue. There was a clear, be it, partial whistle before the puck moved from under Bowns.

In any casebook, once that call was made, it should stand and a restart from centre ice should be the decision. It was a tough call. This wasn’t however the worst one.

Moments later, Clan put themselves firmly ahead, with a great rush into the zone and incredible cross slot pass to the paint and Captain Devin Sideroff tapped it past Bowns for a two goal advantage.

That was indisputable and well earned, to a small ripple of applause from the home crowd.

Nevertheless, the visiting fans kept up their own chanting and encouragement, featuring a plethora of songs copied by most fans bases, eventually, they were rewarded.

On the power play.

Estes found Martin for their own low slot cross pass effort and halved the deficit. It firmly hushed the home barn again, with only the raucous din of the away section providing the atmosphere.

Almost 10 minutes later, following a questionable tripping call against Barrow, Devils countered short handed, creating some uneasy tension on the ice and off it for home fans.

Mosey battled in the far corner of the Clan DZ, only to get tripped in the process. Launched almost from a hook across his skates lifting him upward.

No call, then seconds later, the game was effectively done, Clan converted on their power play.

This was when the noise simmered down a little, but when Perlini tapped home in the low slot, it was on for a thrilling end, to where the home team survived relentless attempts by the visitors to tie things up and send it to OT.

They hung on and that is when the home crowd was heard. It wasn’t the start any Devils wanted and by the reactions of the rest of the league, no one truly expected Clan to win that one.

It is after all, very hard to beat two teams on the ice and that was the feeling after the game.

The underlying feeling was the clear issue with the game management and habits by the team itself.

Bowns was unlucky on the initial goal, but for most of the game, Devils never played their best, especially after the highs of the previous weekend.

Decisions to stop after entering the zone, to cycle instead of shoot and put the opposition goalie under pressure ultimately allowed the home team to shore up, absorb and counter.

Most of Clans’ zone entries were immediately followed by looks on net and battles to the puck were then won by them.

This went both ways.

One moment, Maclean broke up a passing play deep in the NZ, then approached the errant, unattested puck in the near corner of Clan’s net.

He had a winger behind him and a defender cycling behind the net, he moved to the puck, yes.

He failed to skate, failed to maintain awareness and lost the battle to the puck. Then, possession was coughed up. It was pedestrian and what many call, passenger hockey.

Gliding around, instead of skating, holding up play, instead of moving the feet and create pace, space and higher grade opportunities.

This wasn’t isolated.

It was also prevalent defensively. Fournier, had the carbon copy of this, then got pinched for being to relaxed in his own zone, which lead to s scrambling effort from Bowns and a near successful goal against.

You would think this would be addressed post game.

Then, Dundee happened.

The Story in Dundee

The following game only raised expectations from the travelling fans for their team, to get some points on the board for this trip and generate a response.

For two periods, they certainly did that.

They were sharp on zone entries, found luck around the net, which after a single goal lead in the first, they started the second with relentless pace.

Then, there was a double tap against Stars, which saw the first back to back for power play goals for the Devils, then a time out was called.

Moments later, McBean found the net and despite more pressure from Devils, Kruse kept them at bay going into the third.

The score was 4:1 to the visitors and the travelling fans were in boisterous spirits. Again, the only source of atmosphere in both barns.

Then, habits crept in.

Slow recoveries, lack of pace to transition, failure to be more dynamic after gaining the zone and positionally horrendous defensively.

This at times saw Devils goalie Christian Stoever try to enter the conversation, with one moment seeing him try to poke check and the resulting scramble saw a gift of a goal go against him.

Another moment saw him go fishing behind his net and that also allowed Stars to collect another goal as a gift.

This fed the home team, though not so much their fans.

Then, they were level and the home team sensed blood.

The visitors were in disarray. Their fans in disbelief and mistake after mistake happened.

Within 5 minutes their 2 goal lead was over turned sensationally and Stars didn’t look like they were losing.

The visitors, slumped, bereft of leadership and ideas were eventually held in the dying seconds and denied another chance of points.

The reason however was firmly due to their collapse and sitting back.

The foot was taken off the gas and incredibly irresponsible mistakes were made. Stoever made his own yes, however, the situation he was put in should never have happened.

His team didn’t help him defensively and relapsed back to slow, delayed, dithering hockey. Losing battle after battle, getting pinched in their own zone under no pressure and failing to recycle efficiently.

For the home team, that was a comeback for the ages. For the visitors, it was de ja vu.

So, what does this mean for Sunday?

Against Fife, the expectation would be an easy win by over 5 goals.

After the weekends disastrous performances, coupled with Flyers’ resilience, this could be one for the ages.

It could be a zero point weekend and 0/3 for the trip and a first win for Flyers in regular season.

This is also a time to reshape the line up.

Breaking up the Pio-line was a mistake, as it took a physical edge away from the team.

Olischefski is not a top line centre. The proof was highlighted last season. He was also below 50% on the dots.

Duggan was bullied and out of his depth vs Stars, which against a team with nothing to lose expect pride to play for, isn’t the best environment to entrust the long term 4th liner.

Harewood has been a healthy scratch all weekend. The team has lacked 60 minute pace. A straight swap would provide some legs, skill and creativity on the 4th line.

MacDonald has stepped up, he does need support as Kontos lacks speed and vision for him. Adding Ferguson to his line would create space and a skilled outlet for that line.

Fournier has struggled to get going this season. Pairing him with Oligny and combining Estes with Fournier would be a terrific top 4, leaving Richardson and Mosey to shore up and add key offense to the group, to wear down the subpar Flyers back line.

Maclean has moments, but this is now a must win game. Time to make decisions is now, otherwise it is a long trip home, with a lot of angry fans to answer too.

The Kingdom Awaits…