Cardiff Devils 8 Newcastle Vipers 5
Nov 15 2010 The Journal
THE night after ending an eight-game losing run, Newcastle Vipers went down fighting in the Devils’ Big Blue Tent.
The team’s 16th defeat of the season looked on the cards when they left the ice for the dressing room after an eventful second period trailing by three goals.
But Danny Stewart's team hit back to give themselves a chance of getting something out of the game at 5-4 and 6-5 to add to the two points they had earned on Saturday night by beating the Edinburgh Capitals 3-2 at home.
Ryan Finnerty put the Devils ahead in six minutes and the lead was doubled 10 minutes later by Ben Davies.
Nineteen seconds into the middle period defenceman Sam Zajac was ordered off for holding but the Vipers negated the powerplay when Toms Hartmanis struck home his eighth and four shorthanded goal of the season in 21 minutes.
A team is sometimes most vulnerable after it has scored and this was proved as Phil Hill restored the Devils’ two-goal advantage when he fired the puck high into the net less than two minutes later.
During a Vipers powerplay referee Michael Hicks awarded the Devils a penalty shot after Jon Pelle had been unceremoniously hauled down as he threatened to break away for a shorthanded score.
Fortune favoured the Vipers as not only did Pelle miss the penalty shot, they scored a second shorthanded goal in 28 minutes and this time it was Dale Mahovsky who beat netminder Stevie Lyle.
Dean Holland was just settling into the away penalty box when Max Birbraer capitalised on the powerplay to make it 4-2 on 31 minutes and Sam Smith netted the Devils’ fifth with two minutes of the period remaining.
Out-hit by 25 shots to 10 during the second period , the Vipers looked capable of mounting a comeback after Hartmanis powered the puck through Lyle’s legs for a powerplay score on 41 minutes, and then 10 minutes later, Paul Sample cut the deficit to just a single goal.
It became 6-4 just 28 seconds later when Brad Voth sent the puck passed netminder Charlie Effinger and into the net.
The Vipers were back within touching distance again in 56 minutes thanks to a second Mahovsky strike but any hopes the team had off getting back on level terms were crushed by Birbraer’s score just over a minute later.
Effinger was on the bench when Smith struck the Devils’ eighth goal of the night into the unguarded goal with one minute and four seconds left in the match.
In Saturday’s home win against the Capitals, only the third of the season, Mahovsky’s 43rd-minute strike proved to be the decisive moment.
Patrik Forsbacka’s close-range success gave the Vipers a fourth-minute lead, but inside two minutes the sides were level again when Alex Kim’s long-range shot beat Effinger on his glove side.
Mahovsky shot over netminder Scott Reid’s left hand shoulder to put the Vipers ahead again in 24 minutes and for his second, he gave Reid no chance when he was found at the edge of the crease by Dan Speer.
The visitors, who had a late second period goal disallowed, hit back in 47 minutes when ex-Viper Jeff Hutchins let fly from just inside the blue line, sending the puck into the goal over Effinger’s left hand shoulder.
YESTERDAY’S SCORERS
Devils: Birbraer and S. Smith 2+0, Finnerty 1+2, Davies, Hill and Voth 1+1, Matzka, K. Smith and Weller 0+2, Michel and Pelle 0+1.
Vipers: Hartmanis 2+1, Mahovsky 2+0, Sample 1+0, Speer and Stewart 0+2, Carroll, Langdon and Rzeszutko 0+1.
SATURDAY’S SCORERS
Vipers: Mahovsky 2+0, Forsbacka 1+1, Carroll, Langdon and Speer 0+1.
Capitals: Hutchins and Kim 1+1, Reid 0+1.
