Giants Make It Twice in Two Nights Over the Devils…

Posted on Sunday, October 11th, 2009 at 9:51 pm

Ask the Giants players why they were so confident going into the shootout on Sunday night in Cardiff and they will all tell you one name. Stephen Murphy. “We practice shootouts every week and it can take a long time against Murf,” joked Evan Cheverie after the game on Sunday, a game that went to the wire with Cheverie eventually scoring the game winner against his old teammate Stevie Lyle in net for the Cardiff Devils.

Murphy stopped a total of 36 shots on the night, before stopping 8 of 9 breakaways in the shootout to help his team to a four point weekend in league action for the first time this season.

The Devils got on the scoreboard first courtesy of Matt Miller who tapped in a rebound that dropped in front of Murphy off of a Mike Hartwick shot to put the Devils up 1-0 at 6:35. Despite two Giant powerplay opportunities, they could not crack the penalty killing of the Devils and the period ended 1-0 to the home team.

The Devils extended their lead at the 28 minute mark on a tally from Tylor Michel but less than a minute later, Colin Shields pulled the Giants back within one, finishing off a Steve Thornton pass at 28:54. At 37:10 Mike Hartwick made it 3-1 Devils, but moments later at 38:17, Mike Jacobsen scored on the powerplay to make it 3-2.

The Giants were pressing hard for the tying goal and at 45:35, Pat Bateman finished off a sweet passing play between Cheverie and Faubert to tie the game at 3-3. The final fifteen minutes of the game decided nothing, and neither did the extra five minutes of OT action, so it was on to a shootout.

Bateman, Shields and Cheverie were chosen to shoot for the Giants while Miller, Birbraer and Latulippe were picked for the Devils. The first round had a goal a piece, courtesy of Shields and Birbraer. The goalies then proceeded to turn away the next two rounds of shooters until Cheverie won it for the Giants on their 9th shot against Lyle.

After the game, Steve Thornton praised his team for rising to the challenge.

“We had a tough week of practice and with injuries to some key guys, we needed everyone to step up and play better, and I think this weekend we saw the team we should be seeing week in and week out. We showed great character tonight to come back in this building against a team that does not often lose at home. The guys should be very proud of themselves tonight.”

“I was pleased with alot of individual performances this weekend, and once again Murphy played great for us and was solid in the shoot out, but we always knew he would be.”