Did anyone actually see the Check To The Head incident? Everyone I spoke to missed it as they were watching the scuffle behind the net behind the play.
I wonder whether the Frank check was caught on camera and if so whether the Devils will ask for that to be reviewed too. It was late, both his feet clearly left the ice as he jumped into it to ensure his elbow made full contact with Clarkson's head.
As for the game, it was again fantastic entertainment and although the Clan deserved their point the Devils definitely deserved the win. Braehead started the better and bullied us a bit in the opening exchanges to take a deserved lead and it took us about 10 minutes to really settle. Once we did though we played some devastating hockey and the Clan lost all their discipline.
Having been caught by Frank's flying elbow, Clarkson dished out another beating and although it was his last action of the game it had the desired effect. Just 9 seconds later Ben Davies was caught napping at the face off to allow Martin to waltz straight through and setup Lord for the equaliser on the PP.
Clan were rattled and on the very next shift Fitzgerald went chasing a personal vendetta behind the net, leaving loads of space in front for Marsh to glide into and fire home for the lead.
Still worked up, Fitzgerald then gave away a silly cross checking penalty and on the PP Devils went 3-1 ahead when Hotham was left in space after a well worked move.
Devils faced a 5-on-3 pp at the start of the 2nd, both penalties looked soft compared to what had previously been let go, and just as they got back to 4 skaters Kavanagh fired a one-timer from the slot.
The game got increasingly niggly and nasty and it was only a matter of time before another player got hurt. As I said I didn't see the hit that earned Hudson a match, but Fitzgerald took out his own retribution and got 2+5+10+Game for fighting and continuing to fight an unwilling opponent.
It gave the Devils a powerplay and some tic-tac-toe passing saw the excellent Lord tap in for the 4th.
The Devils were starting to look comfortable with their two goal lead but with seconds left of the period a defensive lapse in concentration saw Ben Davies steal the puck and somehow it was bundled home by Haywood.
A Braehead powerplay early in the third saw the Clan get their equaliser when Bowns was unable to hold the first shot and Aarssen was first to his own rebound to knock it home. Both sides had chances with Morissette hitting the post in the dying minutes but the game went deservedly to overtime. With two minutes gone Lord was mouthing off with a Braehead player only for Frank to stupidly slash him from behind on his legs. It gave the Devils another pp and after several chances Haddad fired through traffic for the winner.
As I said earlier, a fantastic game with a great atmosphere generated by both sets of fans. A crowd of 1972 was our biggest of the season so far, things are looking very good in Cardiff at the moment.
