The Växjö Lakers avenged last week’s defeat in Wales with a narrow 3-2 win over a battling Cardiff Devils side in Sweden.

The Lakers came out much stronger than the previous week and outshot their opponents almost 3:1 through the first two periods. Eric Martinsson had the Lakers ahead just 54 seconds in, and when Daniel Rahimi doubled the lead with an inch-perfect shot at 3:50 it looked as if the floodgates could open. Credit to the Devils, however, who rallied and gradually came back into the game. Josh Batch completed a hard-working move as the Devils kept the puck alive, as he fired into the net from the slot to halve the deficit with only 5:37 gone.

The middle period belonged however to the home side, who should really have got more than their one goal. Again the Devils were caught cold in the opening minute, just 26 seconds this time played when Brendan Shinnimin beat goalie Ben Bowns to make it 3-1. Again, however, the Devils gradually grew back into the game, and a thunderous blast from Matthew Pope – well spotted in space by Joey Haddad – had the Devils back to within one.

The final period surprisingly saw no goals. The Devils had some late opportunities on the power play but couldn’t find that killer final pass to set up the scoring chance. Some good late fore-checking form the Lakers prevented the Devils getting Bowns off for the extra attacker, and the hosts held on for the 3-2 to top the group.