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The Inferno
Cardiff Devils @ Sheffield Steelers - 17th March
Sunday the Devils take on the Sheffield Steelers of the second time in a fortnight. This will be the 10th Meeting with of the two teams this season with the Steelers currently edging the series 5 – 4 .
We took a good look at the Steelers squad at the start of the season which you can check out here http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/news/opening-weekend-devils-vs-steelers/ of course due to the fairly revolving door policy they seem to have this isn’t 100% accurate anymore with Colin Shields moving on to be replaced by the now “flat” Champagne and Cory Pecker proving limp to be replaced by someone else… ( you get the impression I’m sure)
Steelers coach Ryan Finnerty has been fairly down on his squad of late having this to say after last weekend’s games
"It is no secret we need more scoring from our team now. It has been frustrating some times to see how we’ve been unable to capitalise on all the hard work getting into scoring situations.”
Saturday saw the Steelers mauled by the Panthers who played their first home game in game The Steelers held Corey Neilson’s team to a single goal until Guillaume Lepine found the empty net in the last minute for the Panthers to chalk up win 16 out of their last 17, which includes 10 straight wins.
After a goalless first period when both teams had chances to get the opener it was the goaltenders who were earning there corn as they blocked anything that came there way.
The home side finally got the go ahead goal at 26.11 as David Clarke on the powerplay sent the home fans wild. This was to be the only goal of the period and it would be all to play for in the third.
Sheffield had more of the chances in the third period but they couldn’t find a way past Kowalski in the home net. The Panthers had a chance to make it a two goal game at 47.53 when they were awarded a penalty shot but Robert Lachowicz failed to convert. With 75 seconds remaining Steelers pulled goaltender DeCaro and 31 seconds later Lepine found the empty net to make it 2-0. With very little time remaining after this it was relativity easy for Kowalski to record his eighth shutout of the season.
Final score Nottingham Panthers 2 – 0 Sheffield Steelers
Sunday saw the Steelers hit back from a 4-1 deficit to win by the odd goal in nine and inflict a sixth straight loss on Devils, who are now under some pressure from the surging Edinburgh Capitals for fifth spot in the standings.
It had been the perfect start for Steelers as Ashley Tait fired them ahead after only 19 seconds but that was a prelude to Devils seeming to take control and goals by Kenton Smith at 9.03 followed by player/coach Gerad Adams on the powerplay at 13.56 saw the hosts 2-1 ahead at the first period break.
Devils continued to take the play to Steelers and built a 4-1 lead thanks to strikes by Max Birbraer on a delayed penalty at 22.03 and Luke Piggott at 23.46, with this goal seeing Geoff Woolhouse replace John DeCaro in the visitors cage. Steelers needed a spark and got it with a shorthanded effort by Chris Frank at 30.08. This completely changed the momentum and two Steelers goals in the final minute of the period drew them level. First to score was Jeff Legue at 39.36 and then while shorthanded again only 19 seconds later Shawn Limpright made it 4-4.
Steelers’ comeback was completed by Limpright at 3.16 of the third period and shocked Devils were unable to comeback from this complete turnaround in the game to leave that single goal as the game winner in the end.
Final Score Cardiff Devils 4- 5 Sheffield Steelers
Speaking after the match Steelers coach Finnerty had this to say
“I took stock when we were 4-1 down at Cardiff and there were players who were not on their game or being indisciplined, so we sat some guys out, rolled seven forwards and switched the lines up."
“It send a message out and we got back in it and won the game. I can guarantee you 100 per cent that if I have to do it again I will.”
Sheffield benched Netminder John “ I can’t believe some of the goals we let in last season” DeCaro during the game an issue Ex Devils Chris Frank addressed this week in the press
“We are definitely sorry that we let him down, I can’t speak for the forwards but I know that the defence are there to protect him. We have to make sure he sees the puck, help clear the rebounds and make sure nobody is on top of him.”
“But we let him down and that means we have to play a lot harder in the future to make it up.”
Frank went on to say
“We have struggled in the last couple of weeks and we are not playing the way we want to or the way were doing around Christmas time. We are an older team with a lot of veterans but there are a lot of good players. We have had mental lapses which have cost us. We have struggled to adapt to other team’s styles when we have needed to."
“But we can do well from this point on.”
We have seen some big scores from the Steelers games so far this season with Drew Fata having netted 6 on the Devils, Shawn Limpright having 5, Ashley Tait scoring 3, Simon Ferguson on 2 and Jonathan Phillips 2 and Jeff Legue both having netted twice also.
Scoring in general for the Steelers has come in the main from Jeff Legue on 30 goals, Shawn Limpright on 19 goals and Tylor Michel on 23 goals.
Last weekend saw Coach Finnerty benched net minder John “ I can’t believe some of the goals we let in last season” DeCaro agaisnt the Devils last weekend but he remains solid with a 91% save percentage and a 2.44 goals against average.
Before playing us on Sunday the Steelers face the Blaze in Coventry but regardless of any injures in this game we can expect the Steelers to have a fuller bench than the Devils for this game.
We will be running the “ridiculously childish and disgustingly biased” Match Night Live service for this game, expect name calling and one eyed bias in epic proportions, at the usual location of http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/mnl if you'd like to help out by texting updates (we’d be happy to hear from you) or you can chip in with some comments on the night by contacting us at matchnightlive@gmail.com
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