Cardiff Devils continue to struggle

The Devils began the season strong, travelling to Fife and taking a convincing 5 - 2 win, but that's about as far as they have gone to play a full convincing 60 minutes.

The next night they returned home and were crushed by the Belfast Giants, losing 7 - 2, but the biggest defeat of the year so far came at the hands of the Dundee Stars who destroyed them in a one-sided 7 - 0 affair.

But last night, the Devils welcomed the Nottingham Panthers to the Welsh capital for the first meeting with the current league champions this year, and despite a loss they showed some of the promise that fans expected before the season began.

It was the Devils who struck first in that contest, after returning to the Devils after a long time spent with Nottingham, Matt Myers scored from a bad angle to give the Devils a 1 - 0 lead with 5.53 played, but in true Panthers fashion, they rallied and the lead didn't last long.

Jonathan Weaver tied the game less than three minutes later, and then the lead was the Panthers just over a minute later as Lynn Loyns shot from the point, beating Devils temporary goalie Greg Blais to make it 2 - 1.

Nottingham continued to press, and after Ben Davies was sent to the box for hooking, Leigh Salters scored his fourth goal of the year on the powerplay to open up a 3 - 1 lead with plenty of time remaining.

After the shock 7 - 0 defeat the night before, Devils fans could have had reason to fear a repeat but the Devils rallied, and with a delayed penalty coming, Mark Richardson  was open to beat Craig Kowalski and narrow the gap to 3 - 2 at the end of the first period.

After impressing through the opening period, Chris Capraro netted his fourth of the year to make it 4 - 2 at 24.33, but the Devils peppered Kowalski with shots, and were able to beat him once more.

Brent Henley was sent to the box for cross checking and Tyson Marsh ripped a shot from the point which was tipped by Matt Myers past Kowalski for his second of the game and to make it a 4 - 3 game with 20 minutes to go.

Cardiff came out strong for the third period, outshooting the Panthers 38 - 28 through the course of the game, but Kowalski played solid in the Panthers net, keeping them out for the third period, including a stretch of five minutes shorthanded after Brent Henley was ejected for butt ending, keeping the Panthers ahead, and all chances of a comeback were squashed with less than three minutes to go as Tom Norton put the game away, giving the Nottingham Panthers a 5 - 3 win, and handing the Devils yet another defeat.

Despite the defeat, the Devils did show promise in a game they weren't expected to win anyway, and after releasing defenseman Adam Ross in favour of goalscoring forward Jake Morrisette earlier in the week, they're also showing intention of a turnaround with the season still in its early days.

Weekends results

Friday

Belfast Giants 5 - 3 Dundee Stars

Saturday

Hull Stingrays 3 - 5 Edinburgh Capitals

Belfast Giants 5 - 4 Braehead Clan

Dundee Stars 7 - 0 Cardiff Devils

Nottingham Panthers 7 - 3 Sheffield Steelers

Sunday

Sheffield Steelers 4 - 5 Braehead Clan (SO)

Coventry Blaze 7 - 4 Hull Stingrays

Cardiff Devils 3 - 5 Nottingham Panthers

Edinburgh Capitals 0 - 3 Dundee Stars

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