Sheffield Steelers 5-1 Cardiff Devils

Sheffield's top line of Erik Anderson, Jeff Christian and Joe Ciccarello had too much for Cardiff's weakened defence, as the home side produced their most polished performance of the season. Last week Christian reckoned he was only 75% and Ciccarello hadn't skated since last season, but their progress was there tonight for all to see.

Devils coach Dave Whistle swapped his goalies at 4-1, and from then on Devils made Platt work, but despite 5 further powerplays Devils couldn't find the net as the home defence shut the door.

Ryan Lake returned from injury for Sheffield with Joe Ciccarello continuing to ice in the absence of Brent Bobyck. Jason Stone returned for Devils, but they were missing Jason Becker with NHL defenceman Rob Davison making his debut icing alongside ex-Steelers Kirk DeWaele.

3363 observed a minute's silence for Ken Bigley before the game.

Sheffield dominated the opening session as Cardiff started slowly. Jason Cugnet had only one shot to save before Mike Peron checked Rob Davison, and with the NHLer distracted Wayne Andrews' long pass released Jeff Christian and he fired a bullet low through the goalie's legs (3.45).

Vezio Sacratini took a holding penalty soon after and Cugnet made two good stops. After 8 minutes John Cullen finally tested Jayme Platt, and as Platt dived to his left for the loose puck, Cullen dragged it wide but there was no-one on hand to help and the home defence cleared the danger. Cugnet pulled another couple of good stops during Cullen's holding penalty, Gerad Adams and Ciccarello the shooters.

Ryan Lake and Sacratini clashed, Lake's extra 2 minutes giving Cardiff a powerplay. 43 seconds later Nathan Rempel finished a slick passing move, tapping the puck in at the back (left) post (14.44). But Steelers ended the first on top when Christian got in front of the goalie and Erik Anderson fired through the screen (18.22) from the left wing.

Devils looked much more purposeful in the second period. Platt blanked Cullen with Peron sitting a hooking penalty, but two goals in a minute changed the game and saw Cugnet replaced by Mike Brabon. Anderson scored from the left (26.13), then the same player got away down the wing and Ben Bliss arrived on the end of the pass to fire through Cugnet's legs (27.13).

Brabon denied Christian but was beaten when Peron deflected Ron Shudra's slapshot high (29.41) following a face-off on the right.

Devils made Platt work for the rest of the period, aided by penalties to Ciccarello and Anderson, but the home defence kept clearing the rebounds.

Defenceman Gerad Adams took a misconduct penalty at 37.54 and when fellow 'D' Dion Darling was hit in the face by a clearance from team-mate Christian 49 seconds into the final period, Sheffield were stretched on defence. Darling bravely returned just over 4 minutes later and for all the strenuous efforts to score, Platt mainly had long shots to deal with and his defence mopped up in front of him.

Jonathon Phillips was unlucky 6 minutes into the third, his shot bouncing off Platt and with 5 minutes remaining Jeff Burgoyne's screened shot would have gone in on another night, but Platt deserved his luck.

As for Davison, he looked like he stepped off the plane yesterday and like Christian and Ciccarello for Steelers, he will surely get sharper by the game.