League Record So Far; 7-1-1, 15pts, 1st Place
Record L5GP; 3-1-1 (7pts)
CARDIFF, WALES – Devils were hosted by a stubborn Fife Flyers team, who were looking to claim another big feather on home ice, knowing that their opponents’ road form was struggling.
They just came off an OTW against Stars on their own ice, being frustrated for 64 minutes, so needed to hit the ice with speed and dictate the game early.
What transpired instead was almost a repeat of the game before, which certainly did little to ease road tensions. However, the game offered more than many were expecting.
Here are five key takeaways from the win on the road in Fife;
1. Line Roulette Strikes Again
As soon as the line ups for the game sheet went live, fans immediately poured over it looking for who would be dressed, who went where and more importantly, who was available.
Seeing the Brits from GB duty back on the game sheet provided a boost, especially as the team still has injuries, is limited to 14 imports and would help rebalance the lines.
Except, those lines were anything but balanced. Questions were raised as to why Harewood was listed on D, with Mosey still as a F, as an example.
To me, it was clear – despite GB player availability or not, it would go to two things, the first, a game time decision on who lines where and two, no matter who would be made available, line roulette would be the order of the day.
Coach Thompson was clearly unhappy with the previous performance, being dragged to OT by a far inferior team on home ice, with one of the scant additions to the forwards group not logging a single shot attempt. Points are points, but he still demands and expects a performance.
The option was clearly another reshuffle per shift, to make use of the centres and to see if they can pull together as a team.
If the result was anything to go by, it may have worked. However, they were again dragged to OT and despite having more attempts on net and edging the face offs, they failed to truly control the game to play their way.
What the coach would learn from that is known only to him, it doesn’t erase the veneer of doubt that still hangs over them like a dark cloud.
2. MacDonald GWG logs 150th point in the EIHL
He already surpassed his games played milestone of 150, on the night however with a secondary assist and the OT GWG, he finally put the landscape on notice with his 150th point in the EIHL.
Now at just over 0.99 points per game, he has hit 21 points across both EIHL competitions this season for a 1.11 point per game pace after 19GP.
Pivotal for his team, as he attempts to keep company with the likes of JJ Piccinich (29).
He is now joint 5th overall in terms of total EIHL points this season, with his line currently at joint 6th overall also, tied to 43 collectively with Flyers (who missed Petizian on the night).
Whilst he is keeping up with good company, the rest of his line are still light, almost 50% off the point pace of their title rivals, with MacDonald now making up 48.8% of those top line points for Devils.
3. First League Road Win, Just
It was two points, three from a possible four so far in road games for regular season, so, really what is there to worry about?
Only one regulation win on the road across 7 attempts is the primary concern.
Despite the thought process on how they treated the game, applied game management, the costly and unforced mistakes, they managed to gain that extra point, despite going a goal down early and battling back twice to regain the lead.
It was a game that needed cohesion to lock in and take the pace to the hosts, instead, it was a choppy, errant and erratic game that failed to produce a team with control.
The elected decision of how the bench was managed, was an interesting method. Although a win was secured, the result fell a little short, particularly with the expectations of the quality available across the bench, compared to how the production was distributed between both teams.
For the good guys however, they are grinding out wins from bad games, which for those who valued old tropes, good teams always do.
4. Point Streaks
Brandon Estes has had a quiet start to this season, however, with the addition of Nick Welsh and improved production from Fournier, the point spread across the blue line has been competitive to say the least.
Even Richardson has points already this early season.
With 5 points from the last 5GP, Estes has a bonafide streak going, adding two more points from the final two cup group stage games, making for 7 points from the L5GP in the EIHL overall.
Another who has extended to a 3 game point streak in the league for regular season is Kristoff Kontos, putting up 4 points in that stretch. He is also two games from 150 in the EIHL and three apples from 100 still, needing 8 more points to also reach 150, as MacDonald acquired vs Flyers.
The Goat, Joey Martin, snapped a 4 game league skid with a primary assist on the night, the 38 year old has been the pivot to provide balance to the top line, but has struggled to maintain the points pace to put his team as leading unit to be afraid of.
Amongst the periphery of the top players on this team, new addition, Panu Mieho has fitted perfectly as the answer for the long search to occupy the clubs’ need for a third line centre.
With one goal and two helpers, he now has a three game point streak in the league, from his last 3GP.
One to keep an eye on still is Kohen Olischefski, as he continues one of his best starts in the league as a Devil. He snapped a small streak build up vs Stars, but his goal vs Flyers has nudged him within two points from 100 in the EIHL.
He is on pace for 24 goals in the league this season at current form.
5. Close Game, Made by Own Mistakes
They may have continued to stay at the top after nearly 10 league games so far this season, they may have got a league road win and had a 4 point weekend, however the pleasure of achieving those early feats has come at a frustrating cost.
The league certainly isn’t won at this time of the year, with the regular season just 16.6% completed, we’re barely at a point to have a true sample to draw from.
What we do have is, a coach that has elected to choose line chaos twice already, home and away, a team that bounces around the ice waiting for the right bounce and results that paint a picture of overwhelming success.
The results do not match performances, however, the results matter to the history books.
It is a weird conundrum, as there are flashes of brilliance, sparks of potential and a fan base waiting for their team to go off on a run before Christmas, instead of the tail end of the campaign.
Devils edged the face offs by two, as the lines were pulled from nowhere, the usual takers didn’t spend as much time on the dots. For instance, Mieho, who averages over 65% normally, went just 25% from 4 attempts.
Kontos lead with 73%, along with Martin (60%) and Barrow (27%) also taking some draws.
Overall, 31:29 was the outcome, not dominant.
The shot count was also a little too close for comfort, 46:38 for attempts, seeing 31:22 for SOG. Flyers, by virtue of three goals from less shots, slightly lead shot efficiency by 0.74%.
Again, despite some time with extra chances, it was still too close for comfort.
There was an improvement compared to the last game, with 4 of those SOG in the high danger zone, compared to one for the Flyers.
For mid danger. Devils edged this 16:13, for low danger, it was 26:24. Far too close. Then again, given the system for the night, the coach must have been searching for something.
So, despite the outcome, my guess is that it wasn’t found.
Compared to the previous game, Caron had one of his best nights in terms of offensive activity, especially towards Toby Craig. That acted as a spark for the team, who went on a smash and grab to turn the game on a dime, gaining a lead in the process.
He had a great equalising goal on the power play, reminiscent of the one vs Storm for his 4th overall in the EIHL, 75% on the road. He also put up 6 shots, all on net. Only Brits, Davies, Duggan and Richardson failed to send the puck toward net successfully.
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