Elite League play-offs: Cardiff Devils beat Sheffield Steelers to set up final against Belfast Giants
- Published
Sheffield Steelers finished the Elite League regular season in third place, one spot above the Cardiff Devils
Cardiff Devils beat Sheffield Steelers 3-2 after overtime in the Elite League play-off semi-final to reach Sunday's final against Belfast Giants.
Steelers raced into a 2-0 lead, Robert Dowd scoring first before Scott Allen doubled Sheffield's advantage.
Trevor Cox halved the deficit for the Devils before Cardiff-born Ben Davies levelled late in the final period.
The game entered three-on-three overtime, and on the powerplay Jake Coughler scored the winner for Devils.
It was a breathless and physical first period in Nottingham as the two Elite League rivals spent no time reintroducing themselves to one another.
Steelers started brightly and took a deserved lead after eight minutes when Dowd collected the rebound from his initial shot and scored past Ben Bowns off a Sam Jardine deflection.
The Steelers doubled their lead on the first powerplay of the game, Allen shooting low between Bowns' legs after Riley Brandt was penalised for a high stick.
Devils found a quick reply with Cox beating Matthew Greenfield after being set free on the break by Cole Sanford.
Cardiff were almost level with the game's next shot, but the Elite League's netminder of the year Greenfield did well to deny Marcus Crawford.
After a first period where chances were aplenty, both sides struggled to carve out chances in the second.
Instead the atmosphere was lifted by a number of huge collisions, and a stick to the face of Coughler from goalscorer Allen, though no penalty was called, to the frustration of the Devils bench.
Cardiff's first powerplay of the game came midway through the second period, Martin Latal penalised for tripping.
However the Steelers saw out the two minutes comfortably, and almost scored shorthanded through Daniel Ciampini, but he was denied by Bowns.
The Devils had the best chance of the middle period, as Waller raced clear after Steelers failed to control the puck in the centre of the rink, but Greenfield was on hand to stop him once more.
Sheffield were back on the powerplay late in the second period as Brandt sat for another two minutes, this time for interference.
It was a decision that incensed the Devils coaches, players and fans alike - including a large portion of the neutral fans in the stadium - who claimed Brandt was instead pushed in the back.
Cardiff Devils' Brodie Dupont won the 2022 play-off title in his first season as a head coach
This time they could not capitalise however, as the Steelers ended the second period with a slender 2-1 lead.
Devils almost equalised within 20 seconds of the start of the final period, but Sanford could not beat Greenfield when one-on-one.
Latal had the chance to restore Steelers' two-goal advantage as Devils committed more and more players to attacks, but Bowns kept the score at 2-1 with eight minutes left.
And that save proved crucial, as Cardiff went down the other end and Davies reacted quickest to fire home the rebound from Waller's initial shot.
Neither team could find a winner in the remaining minutes of the final period as the match entered three-on-three overtime.
Just 18 seconds into overtime Ciampini was penalised for tripping, and, after Brodie Reid clattered the post, Coughler fired in the match-winner to complete a dramatic comeback.
Cardiff Devils head coach Brodie Dupont said: "I thought Sheffield came out really hard and I didn't particularly like our start, we sat back and dug a bit of a hole but to give the guys credit they battled.
"We had a couple of really big saves, the breakaway Bowns save [from Latal] probably saved the game for us.
"We got some timely goals and that is what usually counts in these short tournament formats."
Sheffield Steelers head coach Aaron Fox said: "We got off to a great start, controlled tempo and pace.
"Second period was pretty even, I think we had more chances but Bowns made some huge saves and kept them in the hockey game.
"It could have been a 3-1 game but then they go down and make it 2-2 and then score the powerplay goal."
Giants' Grand Slam hopes still alive
Belfast Giants won the Elite League regular season, beating Guildford Flames to the title in the penultimate game
Devils have the unenviable task of facing Belfast Giants in Sunday's final, with the Northern Ireland side seeking an elusive Grand Slam.
After winning the Challenge Cup and regular season title in the previous two campaigns, the Giants fell at the final hurdle against the Devils in the play-offs on both occasions.
This time Cardiff stand in the Giants' way once more, with Belfast having once again secured the first two pieces of silverware this season.
Giants eased past Nottingham Panthers 6-3 in their semi-final earlier on Saturday.
Steve Owre, Sean Norris and Ben Lake all scored for the Giants within the opening 10 minutes though the Panthers pulled one back before the end of the first period through Jake Hopkins.
David Goodwin restored the Giants' three-goal lead after a poor pass from Panthers' Mike Caruso before Stephen Anderson made it 4-2.
Lake and Norris both scored their second of the match in the final period, either side of a Jakub Izacky consolation for Nottingham.
On Sunday, Panthers will face Steelers in the third-place match (13:00 BST) before the Giants take on Devils in the final (17:00 BST).