League Record So Far; 7-2-1, 15pts, 1st Place
L10GP; 7-2-1
CARDIFF, WALES – Devils hosted the Panthers on Friday night, looking to continue their impressive home form this season, get back to winning in regulation and strengthen their lead atop of the league.
They had some returning personnel and a new addition to introduce to their fans and for the league, hoping it would be enough to not just scrape by and find some momentum.
Panthers were looking to make an upset, back up their slender shutout victory against Blaze the previous weekend and back themselves to show their quality.
Panthers also had a retuning player ice for his first game of the season, with a strong critique of their group deriving from lack of finishing quality, a trait all too familiar across the leagues’ fanbases.
Here is are some key takeaways from the defeat to Nottingham;
1. Sluggish Puck Movement Became The Vibe
It wasn’t just from the home team, across two benches, up to 36 skaters failed to truly use the biscuit that seemed to have a magnet within it and all played with magnetised skates.
I am starting to internally question if the league wide equipment managers are having a busier season with bashed up knife boots.
There were some moments of energy, if you call being able to marginally skate with the puck away from opponents at an arms length around the net a couple of times, energetic.
Both teams had four days off from their last fixture, both would have likely had a ‘riot act’ read to them to raise intensity and assert expectations, both clubs had a new addition to their respective teams.
Unfortunately, passing percentage isn’t tracked in this professional league, so the eye test has to be used, as for many other things.
The lack of quality passing, puck movement and even protection from either team created what seemed like a tightly checked battle of chess.
The puck was a hot potato and the net was lava.
Yet it was a very charitable game in terms of giveaways (also not tracked) and open season for turnovers (this too), making for a disjointed, terse and fraught 60 minutes of something resembling a hockey game.
2. Battle of the Goalies
When there were moments that saw shots snapped to net, the goalies were in fine form. Both net minders made some quality stops, grade A saves and some utterly unbelievable athleticism to deny some really rare high danger chances.
They brought the entertainment value, due to a lack of proficiency with the puck in front of them and an inability for any player to take to game by the scruff of the neck and make something of themselves.
Saves made went 33:36 to Kai Edmunds, who shut the door all night on the good guys, who in all fairness to him, barely made him move at times as shots were direct to the chest or glove.
There were 15 combined shots during the first, Devils just ahead, then after 40 minutes, they fell 9:15 during that frame and went to 17:22.
Neither team could break the deadlock until a late penalty on Fournier, which Panthers capitalised on from the game’s only power play.
The third saw big saves exchanged one after the other, which drew the crowd rink wide into it more, paving the way for more action to get interested in.
Total shots on net went 36:33 to the home team, but something spoken of throughout the week on this platform at least, eventually presented itself.
3. Poor Game Management Paved Way for DZ Pressure
Both teams had very similar numbers from shot attempts, SOG and shots broken down by chances per the EIHL Tracking on their game sheet.
As rudimentary as it is, it highlighted that quality of scoring was missing either end, with one on just five high danger chances seeing a goal converted, which was of course, one of the poorest defensive moments this season for the Devils.
If anyone were to say a team ‘ran into a hot goalie’, I would question their credentials. Yes both goalies had good games, more than 50% of the reason was due to inefficient and ineffective the chances were to face down.
Burying a line with decent defensive IQ and their engine for offensive upside, it came as no surprise the trade off for icing new player, Nyman with two of the more underwhelming additions to this team saw them with minus after the night concluded.
Mostly, these issues started outside of their own DZ, with the lack of quality puck movement across the other zones, lead to counter attacks, uncontested zone entries or even failed rushes from line changes when the team had OZ possession moments earlier.
Despite some knocks, despite three new additions, one very new, the vast majority of this team were retained from last season, under the stewardship of the same coach. That game was played by a bunch of strangers, playing as individuals.
4. Failure to Capitalise Set the Tone
As with the importance of improving game management, which failed on the night, the other key to the game was to get ahead early and build from it.
It took until late in the 2nd to see a goal, from the games only power play and it went in favour of the visitors. Before that, there were some breakaway chances at least, but everything was to the periphery.
During the midweek, a landmark editorial piece was dropped which highlighted areas that needed improvement, that have continued to linger within the locker room for the last few seasons.
Waiting to break from being stretched too much and finishing, but also to where that finishing would show itself beyond a very few select players.
Those players were either buried down the line up, limiting their usage and proficiency or they were isolated and couldn’t contribute. Instead, two defenders found the finishing touches, but no one else could find the quality to establish themselves or get the team to a lead.
By the time they found a way to get past Edmonds, they were already down two goals and never looked like changing the narrative on the ice.
The club are aware of criticisms, lack of belief in their process and openly refute it with carefully crafted response or to a discerning part of either the 5 or 95%, excuses.
The game was a cohort of warnings that went to roost, creating a collective cascade of poor decisions, from line up and usage, player selection, role reductions and focus on areas that have been crying out for improvement.
5. Nyman Gets Baptism of Fire
As expected, new forward Linus Nyman joined Mieho and Caron to start his career as a Devil, as feared, they were placed on the second line.
For an athlete that hasn’t played since March, only skated with a team twice this week, being thrown out on to the second line with a pair of forwards that provide very little collective responsibility to the defense and struggle to generate offence, it was a tall order for him.
No one else but Paul Thompson is the coach, however, it doesn’t mean no one can call a spade a spade and a brutal decision, a brutal decision.
Mieho went 22% on the dots, winning two from nine draws, failing to log a single shot on goal. Although Caron logged an assist for the Estes goal, he managed just one SOG from only 3 attempts and Nyman to his credit, hustled the best he could, went 1:1 for shots.
Caron’s shots were wide twice of the three, with the other easily saved.
For their ability, placing them on a line that generates between 16 and 18 minutes of TOI is a tall order, especially a home game against a big opponent, when the team really needed a good win, in regulation.
Perhaps that would be a choice that would come back to the coach sooner or later.
The entire line was out there for each goal against, with Caron elected for more responsibility lately. A fair observation would be that is likely expected for his decent run of games lately, however, an over reach for the opponent at the time.
Up Next, Blaze on the Road
Saturday 14th November 2026 | Skydome, Coventry, UK | 7pm
Blaze L5GP; 4-0-1
Their next opponent is another tough game, this time against old foes, Coventry Blaze. They have a game in hand over the Devils and sit just one point behind them in joint second place.
They have had some decent form of late, finding ways to win and only taken to a single goal defeat recently against a very desperate Panthers team.
For the hosts, they would looking to take advantage of a team that is disjointed cohesively, confused defensively and absent offensively.
Tyson Helgesen warmed up last night, but was ultimately scratched to meet league import requirements for the game day roster, leaving the defensive end short.
He will feature for today’s game, as confirmed by the coach with DevilsTV post-game.
To their credit, the blue liners played particularly well and found the net over their line mates up front. Stoever to his credit, performed to his ability, which should be the bench mark for all skaters in front of him.
Road Form
Devils on the road has made for a lot of speculation recently, their last game at the Skydome ended in a narrow defeat in the cup, both teams have claimed a win each so far, but this game is their first in regular season.
During that game, Devils took the lead twice and eventually lost in regulation. A pattern that precedes them.
They have also won just twice across 7 road games from both EIHL competitions so far this season, when 6 of those 7 road games they had a lead.
From those six games, they lost four times, the two wins overall were of those wins from taking a lead. Devils appear to be more responsive when they are trailing a game, rather than being assertive first and then they struggle, especially on the road, to maintain that lead, whether it was by a single goal or two.
Just one game on the road they have won in regulation, that game they took and held a lead.
Production vs Execution
Against Blaze, they will face a team that isn’t particularly dangerous in terms of huge production, they do however have scoring throughout their lines quite evenly.
With a 78W%, they are no pushovers, especially on home ice. They sit third overall for GFA, whereas Devils are sat in 5th.
Thanks to their defeat last night, Devils are now 2nd overall for GAA, with Blaze now leading by 0.02 – fair to say, both teams have a decent tandem.
Both clubs have the highest shots generation, Devils maintained their 36 per game overall, Blaze are narrowly behind again by 0.22 – again, very close in terms of production, the difference being one team is built on a tighter budget, the other claims to not have that in comparison to larger clubs.
Where Blaze do have some daylight with Devils, they lead by a pair of goals scored in regular season so far by 31:29 – another stick to chew on and mull over, where the apparent issue presents itself. Blaze have also played a game less.
Special Teams
Each season under Kevin Moore, his team can boast either one of the best power plays or one of the best penalty kills. So far, it is the latter.
Leading with 85.71%, Blaze have demonstrated a PK unit with success, whereas for the Devils, they languish at 6th overall.
As far as the power play is concerned, Devils have found some good success, sitting 3rd overall with 35%, Blaze have been struggling in 9th with just over 13%.
Blaze have had to kill a lot more penalties in comparison, 28:15, but are close with gaining a man advantage, trailing by two with the Devils.
Those penalties against have placed the hosts for tonights game as firmly the last placed team in the league for PIMS/G, with the good guys at 7th overall.
As noted by coach Thompson, especially at home with the same officials, they are yet to gain a power play – brave to mention, despite how dire his team had actually played.
Last time they played at the Skydome, Devils had 33 PIMS, but that was largely due to a game ejection, rather than from infractions.
Keys to the Game
Repeat the ones from the previous game – lock it down, gain the lead and manage the game.
Getting the puck to the difference makers is key, so having a line up properly set to deliver that is a must, even with a new player on the roster.
With Helgesen returning for his first game this season, it adds a strong presence at the back, completes the blue line cohort and provides a physicality factor for his team.
With Harewood injured from GB and Mark Richardson still hurt, they would likely be down a Brit for their game this evening.
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