A couple of weeks ago Gazza272 said to me that he felt we would be better with Voth on the first line alongside Smith and Birbraer. I wasn't convinced........
Outstanding performance by the Devils tonight. Both teams started the game with great intensity, but after the first couple of minutes the Devils were all over the Vipers.
After 4 minutes the puck fell loose in the corner and despite having no right to win the puck, Smith won it ahead of the Vipers defenceman , and skated out from the boards before firing past Robinson on the glovehand side.
Devils 1-0 Vipers
The goal seemed to deflate Newcastle and for the rest of the period it was every man desperately defending the net. After several near misses Birbraer fed Miller as he skated into the zone, and his quick wrist shot beat Robinson on the glove side again.
Devils 2-0 Vipers.
It was only thanks to frantic defending, frantic netminder and a bit of luck that the Vipers finished the first period just two goals down. They were outshot 15-5, to be honest it seemed more than that.
Second period started with the Vipers on the PP and the Devils struggled to continue with the intensity they showed in the first. When Kralj was left alone in front of the net his shot just managed to find it's way through Lyle's pads and into the net.
Devils 2-1 Vipers
The goal breathed new life into the Vipers and for a 5 minute spell were all over the Devils. Nothing the home team tried would work as the Devils struggled to even get out of their own zone. Slowly the Devils got back into the game, which was effectively decided in a 10 second spell.
When a rare Devils attack was broken up, the puck was passed up to a Vipers player on a breakaway. He tried to deke Lyle but his wrist shot was brilliantly caught by Lyle in his catcher, and the crowd where on their feet in admiration. From the resulting face-off, Smith won the puck and passed to Voth on the right wing. He passed it forwards to Birbraer who skated into zone at full speed, firing the puck across the zone to Smith who one-timed it into the net. An absolutely beautiful goal to watch.
Devils 3-1 Vipers - and instead of being 2-2 the Devils had regained their two goal lead.
A couple of minutes later, Towe won the face-off in the Vipers zone, drop passed it to Jarvis who fed it to Romfo. Taking his time he waited for Michel to screen Robinson, before firing a wrist shot into the top corner that the netminder never saw.
Devils 4-1 Vipers.
By now the Devils 1st line were having their own goal of the month competition between themselves.
Smith collected the loose puck in the neutral zone and dropped the pass to Birbraer. Max once again powered into the zone, flipped the puck into the middle where Voth collected it, deked the netminder and cooly flipped the puck into the net on the backhand. Another great goal and the game was over as a contest.
Devils 5-1 Vipers.
3rd period starts with both teams once again showing great intensity, though Lawson has taken over from Robinson in nets. Devils dump the puck into the corner and Voth and Mahrle chase it at full speed. When they are about 2 metres from the boards, Mahrle slips and as he wipes out Voth his (Mahrle) helmet comes off and the two players smash into the boards. It looks to me like Mahrle's head gets trapped between Voths body and the boards, and whilst Voth slowly gets up Marhle is on the ice in trouble and play is stopped. After recieving medical attention on the ice he is carried off, but as soon as they get him behind the bench he collapses again. A stretcher is called for and the game is delayed for quite a while as he is seen to.
Despite the accusations of some of the Vipers fans it was just one of those things and Voth wasn't to blame. No Viper player went at him during the break of play or at any point in the game. An unfortunate freak accident.
Game restarts and Lawson makes a couple of good glove saves. After great play between Smith and Birbraer along the boards though, Birbraer passes the puck out into the slot where Voth taps the puck under Lawson and into the net.
Devils 6-1 Vipers
Less than a minute later and the two players combine along the boards once again, this time Smith finding Voth infront of the net again and this time he hits a one-time slapshot past Lawson for a straight hat-trick.
Devils 7-1 Vipers.
By this time it's turning into shooting practise for the Devils who are pulling off some great bits of skill. In the end though the 8th Devils goal was down to a mistake by Lawson. Michel skates down the right wing as fires the puck towards goal from a near impossible angle, the puck seems to hit Lawsons glove/stick and deflect through his five-hole and into the net. Doh!
Devils 8-1 Vipers.
90 Seconds later and the first line are causing mayhem again Voth passes to Birbraer who slips a lovely inside pass to Smith who.... messes up and fails to control the puck. "Rubbish!" I ironically shout at him, as he skates after the loose puck, skates around the boards, shrugs off a couple of Vipers players, skates out from behind the net and slides the puck into the far corner. Hattrick for Smith.
Devils 9-1 Vipers.
Cardiff take this opportunity to replace Lyle with Crisps. Viper sense they might get a couple more goals after all and a good pass from Longstaff finds Petricko on his own and he fires an unstoppable shot just under the bar.
Devils 9-2 Vipers.
After conceeding such a quick goal, Crisp makes several good saves over the final 5 minutes as the game seems to be finishing without any more incident. I have no idea what started it, but suddenly Hayes and Holland have dropped the gloves and we are provided with a pretty entertaining fight. Hayes caught Holland with a couple of jabs which gave him a bloody nose - I doubt he will be doing that again in a hurry.
Comfortable Devils win with the Devils 1st line the stars of the show. Birbraer-Smith-Voth won a joint Man of the Match and you have to say they were unplayable at times today. Smith and Voth both finished with 3+3 whilst Birbraer scored 0+7.
What's the bet after scoring 9 tonight we get shutout at the NIC on Sunday.
