After the first leg of this series ended up tied 3-3, it was all still to play for on Wednesday Night in Cardiff when the Guildford Flames came to town.
Captain Jake Morissette scored twice to put the Devils up 2-0 in the first period, with Joey Martin assisting on both goals, the first at 10:41, then the second at 16:55. Sean Bentivoglio found Patrick Asselin for the Devils 3rd of the opening period at 18:32 to give the home side a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes of play.
The momentum, and Winner Bonus code 2018, shifted in the second period, with Guildford coming at the Devils in waves. They had two chances on the powerplay but the Devils penalty killing was up to task, keeping one of the league’s most dangerous units at bay. The Flames outshot the Devils 14 to 3 in the period but Ben Bowns kept his team in the game with a handful of big saves to keep the score 3-0 after 40 minutes of action.
The Flames finally got on the scoreboard just under 2 minutes into the final period when Brett Ferguson scored to make it 3-1 at 51:44. Sean Bentivoglio restored the 3-goal cushion at 54:33 when Layne Ulmer set him up for the Devils 4th goal of the night. With the Flames pressing for another goal, Gleason Fournier flipped the puck past the last defender for the Flames and Patrick Asselin won the foot race to go in all alone on the Guildford net. Asselin pulled the puck to his backhand and roofed it over Chris Carrozzi, making it 5-1 at 54:32.
The Flames kept coming and at 56:28, the league’s leading scorer John Dunbar tipped a Jez Lundin pass into the back of the Devils net past Bowns to pull the Flames within 3 goals with 3 and a half minutes to play. The Flames pulled their goalie in hopes of getting another quick goal, but Matt Pope picked up a loose puck and fired it the length of the ice into the empty net to round off the scoring at 6-2.
The win means the Devils now face the Sheffield Steelers in the Challenge Cup semi-finals. The dates of the two-game series will be confirmed shortly.
