Devils @ Braehead - 22nd December

19th Dec 2012 | Posted by Simon Rafferty

Saturday night see’s the Devils on the road taking on the Braehead Clan at home. This will be the fourth meeting of the year between the two clubs with the tally currently in favour of the Devils who’ve won 2 ( home and away) to the Clans one win (away).

We took a good look at the Clan roster at the start of the season which you can check out here http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/news/devils-vs-the-clan-sunday-16th/ since the start of the season the Clan have struggled a little finding the form that they were widely expected to have and have released Bobby Chaumont & Ryan Campbell and also seen the departure of defenseman Mitch Manu.

We saw the Clan last weekend in Cardiff when they iced with only 11 skaters the Clan were always going to be up against it in Cardiff but only the one goal separated the teams after the opening twenty minutes and it came the way of the Devils when Phil Hill was on target at 17.06.

In the seventh minute of the second period the Devils doubled their lead with a 5 on 3 power play goal from Chris Blight. The Clan were in more penalty trouble in the 31st minute and just as they got back to full strength Stuart MacRae put the hosts three in front as he netted at 32.56. The visitors reduced the deficit at 35.07 as Robert Farmer got them on the score sheet. However, the Devils restored their three goal lead as MacRae got his second of the game at 38.22.

With the points in the bag the Devils took their foot of the gas in the third period and the only time the net got bulged was at 46.54 as Blight netted his second of the game.

Final score on the night Cardiff Devils 5 - 1 Braehead Clan

Sunday saw the Clan in action again and in addition to their current crop of Injuries the Clan were  also without starting goaltender Garrett Zemlak who had to head home on Family business, leaving Michael Will to deputise against the Edinburgh Capitals

Richard Hartmann fired the Capitals ahead on the power play at 9.09 only for Steve Birnstill to draw Clan level 39 seconds later. The first period scoring was not complete however and at 16.40 Capitals edged in front again with a strike by Curtis Leinweber.

A tighter second session produced fewer chances but one goal, scored by Rene Jarolin of Capitals at 34.27, leaving his side seemingly in control at 3-1 at the period break.

The third period saw Capitals seemingly able to hang on but a goal for Clan at 49.21 via the stick of Ash Goldie saw game on once again. Entering the final minutes it was the home side who scored a fourth at 56.02 from Brent Patry to go 4-2 in front but only 15 seconds on and Clan were again back in the game as Jade Galbraith found the net.

A big effort by the visitors to save the game was mounted but all hopes were dashed with an empty net goal for the hosts with 6 seconds remaining with Hartmann claiming his second of the game and icing Capitals fourth win from their last five games.

Final score Edinburgh Capitals 5 - 3 Braehead Clan

Speaking after the game exasperated Clan player-coach Jordan Krestanovich said of his team’s season so far:

“It’s been absolutely insane. I’ve gone through things you would reasonably expect not to have to deal with in five years in only three-and-a-half months.”

“Saying that, we’re going to get through this. We had a long journey back from Cardiff last night (in a 5-1 defeat) and the guys are tired, but we battled right to the end. Edinburgh are playing good hockey right now, and have beaten good teams in this league.”

“With a full line-up, it could have been a different story, and I promise you we will be bringing players in and we will be a completely different team in January.”

Injury wise the Clan will likely still be without Ryan Watt with a Knee Injury and Matt Hanson who is out due to concussion. Drew Miller may or may not play as he was ill last weekend and Jade Galbraith is reportedly playing injured. In addition to this Garrett Zemlak may well not return in time for the game.

The Devils squad see’s the return of Adam Harding and hopefully the return of Max Birbraer after last weekend saw the hopefully temporary departure of Paul Bissonnette for the Christmas break.

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 chip in with some comments on the night please contact us at matchnightlive@gmail.com.

For details of upcoming away travel with Red Army Travel you can get all the information here http://the-inferno.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6212