The Belfast Giants’ lead at the top of the Elite League standings is back down to six points.
Paul Thompson’s Cardiff Devils romped to victory over the Giants on Saturday [7 March], winning 5-2 at the SSE Arena to reignite the title fight.
With the Sheffield Steelers and Nottingham Panthers winning elsewhere, the top four are now separated by only seven points.
Welcome to Around the Rinks, our daily summary of every teams’ post-game media remarks.
Around the Rinks: Saturday, 7 March
Guildford Flames 3-4 Fife Flyers
Josh Winquist, Fife Flyers (Image: John Uwins)
Andrew Hemming, Guildford Flames:
That’s a tough one for us tonight: we didn’t have the best of starts and we had some technical issues coming home last night. We didn’t get home until 9am this morning.
Full credit to our guys, they put in a professional performance to try and get the job done, but we came up against a hot goalie. We just came up short.
Mike Courts, Fife Flyers:
I thought both teams were very competitive and battled hard. Guildford are a very good team and they came after us with wave after wave of attacks. We made some changes to our systems through the week, which allowed our guys to be a bit more instinctive in their play and it showed tonight.
Belfast Giants 2-5 Cardiff Devils
Ryan Barrow, Cardiff Devils (Image: William Cherry)
Adam Keefe, Belfast Giants:
I thought it was a pretty good hockey game, with two good teams going at it. I thought we were pretty good, but we weren’t direct enough to create enough looks or score an ugly goal.
They scored two ugly goals, throwing the puck through the crease, and we gave them a freebie on the breakaway. They scored a powerplay goal, we didn’t, and that’s the game right there.
It was a good effort, but we made a couple of mistakes that cost us and that’s the reality. We’re back at it tomorrow and it’s not going to be easy: we’ve got to pick ourselves back up and be a little bit more direct. We simply can’t be giving up breakaways and our powerplay needs to pick it up.
Paul Thompson, Cardiff Devils:
Well, it’s obviously pleasing. We had a disastrous game in Sheffield last week, which was our worst performance of the season, effort-wise. We had some good meetings this week and I felt that we saw the Devils team from the first four months of the season today. Hopefully, we can send our fans home with a smile on their face tonight.
Dundee Stars 5-4 Manchester Storm (Shootout)
Marc LeFebvre, Dundee Stars:
I’m happy for the guys: we kept plugging away. We were trailing for most of the game and [Emil Kruse] made some big saves to make sure we got the extra point. The guys kept going after it.
We had a great result at home against Coventry and then had three games where we weren’t really in it. Coming home today and getting the result was key for us. We didn’t quit and that was the key thing.
Cam Critchlow, Manchester Storm:
I’m really disappointed. I liked our game for about 55 minutes: we really took it to them and created some opportunities. We shut off for the last five minutes and it’s been the story of our year. I know it was a long day, broken down on the highway for two hours, but we started really well given the circumstances.
We’ve got to rebound. It’s just not good enough. We’ve had so many opportunities to pick up extra points, but we’ve squandered so many opportunities.
There are guys in the line-up who played well, but we ultimately failed as a team.
Nottingham Panthers 5-4 Glasgow Clan (Overtime)
Chase Pearson, Nottingham Panthers (Image: Panthers Images)
Danny Stewart, Nottingham Panthers:
Well, we scored one more goal than them. Fortunately, we have the two points. It was a little bit too open for my liking, too run and gun. I want to give credit to Bryan Lemos and his line: they won us the hockey game tonight.
There are nights when you’re not playing your best and you need someone to step up. Bryan’s line did and they won us a hockey game.
Mike Sirant, Glasgow Clan:
I know nobody in our dressing room is satisfied with the result, which is a good thing. Coming back in this building from 4-1 down in the third period shows a lot of belief. It’s a valuable point that we won tonight. Nottingham are an excellent team, but we somehow found a way to come out with a point.
Sheffield Steelers 4-3 Coventry Blaze (Shootout)
Patrick Watling, Sheffield Steelers (Image: Dean Woolley)
Aaron Fox, Sheffield Steelers:
We never led in that game until the final penalty shot. I actually really liked our first period: we were moving our feet, we were engaged defensively, and created a lot offensively.
They were the better team in the second period, they went ahead, but I loved our follow up. We got away from it after that, but I liked our third. We probably deserved more than we got in the third, but this is a tough team to beat.
[Mat] Robson is always at his best in this building, gives them a chance every night, and they’re playing good hockey right now. We’re happy with the points.
Kevin Moore, Coventry Blaze:
I thought it was a highly entertaining game. It was a weird one from a structural perspective on both sides. I liked how our team problem-solved each phase of the game: it got run and gun for a bit, then it was really tight.
It was weird from a tactical standpoint, but I loved our guts and the fact we ground out a point on the run. With shootouts, it’s a coin flip and it didn’t go our way.
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