By Luke McGinnis
The Stars suffered a narrow defeat to the Manchester Storm on Wednesday, with the English side scoring in the closing seconds of overtime to secure a 4-3 victory.
Captain Travis Ewanyk scored twice, while Sebastian Bengtsson also found the back of the net.
Vladislav Pestov made his second consecutive start in net, once again impressing with 45 saves and a .918 save percentage.
“We did a lot of really good things,” said Dutertre post-game. “I liked how we got the puck in on the forecheck, but in the second period we just took things off, and then we had to battle back. You need to put a full 60 together, and that’s the frustration right now.”
The Cardiff Devils are the reigning EIHL Playoff Champions and have brought back 18 members of their championship-winning squad.
However, Paul Thompson’s side have had an inconsistent start to the season, winning five of their opening eight matchups across all competitions.
Their two regular-season victories have come against the Manchester Storm and Glasgow Clan, with 2-0 and 2-1 wins respectively.
Josh MacDonald, who led the Devils in scoring last season and finished second in the league for goals, once again leads the Welsh side with eight points in as many games.
Discussing the challenge posed by Cardiff’s physical style of play, head coach Scott Dutertre said: “The league has physical players and physical teams. We have to work on putting a full 60 minutes together.”
Face-off is scheduled for 7pm.
