Jarrod Skalde: Cardiff Devils ready for 'hard fought battles' against Belfast Giants
- Published
Cardiff Devils have won three of four Elite League games against Belfast Giants this season
Cardiff Devils are ready for a "hard fought battle" as they travel to Northern Ireland for a crucial double header against Belfast Giants.
Devils sit one place and three points above this weekend's opponents Giants, but have played three more games.
With both teams chasing Elite League leaders Sheffield Steelers, failure to pick up points this weekend could end hopes of finishing top.
"It's such an important weekend," said Devils head coach Jarrod Skalde.
"Back-to-back games against Belfast, in their building, the last two encounters of the season.
"We're excited, we've had a great week of preparation, they're such a talented team and a tough team to play against, and it's a tough building to go into and get any points out of.
"We'll be ready, so will they, and I think fans on both sides are anticipating a close, hard fought battle."
The Elite League's top three are 13 points clear of Nottingham Panthers in fourth having passed the mid-point of the 54 game regular season
Since Christmas Day, the Devils have won 12 of 13 games, their only defeat in that spell coming away at Belfast on 14 January.
On that occasion, Giants' Tyler Soy scored the only goal of the match, but the Devils were unhappy when a late equaliser was controversially ruled out after review.
Matt Register thought he had forced overtime with a minute left to play, but after a lengthy review the officials determined there was goaltender interference on Tyler Beskorowany.
"I was so disappointed for our guys," said Skalde. "From my stand point it was a good goal, but we're moving forward into the weekend.
"There's lots of hockey left, we can only focus on ourselves and the games ahead of us.
"These points [available against Belfast] are massive, it will be a huge swing with wins and huge swing with losses."
Despite the Devils' consistency since mid-December, their early season form was considerably more patchy.
"We were coming into a season with 14 new players, a new coach and a league that's new to the majority of players," said Skalde.
"I don't care what sport it is you're going to go through some spells, that's part of the process of building a team.
"We went through stretches where we weren't very consistent, it was a challenge, but I believe going into Christmas and beyond we've been more defined and it's generated consistency.
"Overall I believe the amount our guys care about winning and playing for each other is the biggest factor."
Fans back at home for Devils
Cardiff Devils won all six recent games at Ice Arena Wales while fans were unable to attend
While the Devils are back to being the away team this week, last weekend was cause for celebration for the Welsh fans.
After being unable to attend home games for five weeks due to the Welsh Government's Covid-19 restrictions, Devils fans returned to the Ice Arena Wales last Friday.
And the local supporters were not disappointed, as Devils beat Fife Flyers 4-0 and followed it up a day later with a 5-1 victory over Nottingham Panthers.
"Having fans in the building was incredible, we know how much we missed them," said Skalde.
"It was a challenge playing without fans, I know our record isn't indicative of that, but it was difficult night in night out playing without fans.
"So to reward them with two great efforts and four points in the league standings was a terrific effort from us.
"Both games had a lot of everything, overall from top to bottom it was a great weekend for everyone."