While winless on the road, the North Delta Devils are a perfect two-for-two on home ice.
The Pacific International Junior Hockey League team lost a close 2-1 decision to the Mission Ice Breakers Thursday night in Mission, then dominated the opposition Saturday night in the Sungod Arena for a 6-1 victory over the Ridge Meadows Flames.
The Devils fired 42 shots at Ridge Meadows goaltender Robert Bruni, scoring two goals in each period.
The Flames scored the game’s first goal midway through the first period, but trailed 2-1 at the period break as Tristan Craighead netted a pair of goals for the home side.
Marco Romano made it 3-1 for North Delta with a power play goal in the second period, then Craighead completed this hat trick before the second intermission.
Devin Elford and Levi De Waal added to the Devils goal total in the third period. Blake Gorrill and Benjamin Vikich were credited with two assists each.
Tyler Read, a White Rock native, stopped 18 of 19 shots in the North Delta net to lower his goals against average to 1.74 after four games.
The Devils demonstrated their discipline, taking just two minor penalties. The Flames were scoreless on their only power play opportunity, while North Delta scored twice on four chances.
Penalties were a problem for the Devils in Mission, and the Outlaws had 10 power play opportunities. Although the Devils killed off all 10 chances, they were shorthanded for roughly one-third of the game.
Mission was shorthanded on five occasions, but kept the Devils scoreless.
Trailing 1-0 after 40 minutes, North Delta tied the game with nine minutes to play on a goal from Joshua Trisevic.
Donald Danroth of Mission scored the winning goal with 80 seconds left in regulation time.
Both teams had 39 shots on goal, although North Delta had a 28-22 edge after two periods.
With a 2-2-0 (won-lost-overtime loss) record, the Devils are tied for fourth place in the Tom Shaw Conference, and will face three of their four conference rivals in the next week.
They are on the North Shore to play the North Vancouver Wolf Pack (2-1-0) Wednesday night, then are on the road again against the first place (3-0-1) Richmond Sockeyes Thursday.
They are at home at 6:45 p.m. Saturday at the Sungod Arena, with the second place Delta Ice Hawks (3-1-0) the visitors.
BLUE LINES: With four goals in three games played, Tristan Craighead of the Devils is tied for third place in the PIJHL goal-scoring race.
Anthony Brito of the Delta Ice Hawks leads with seven goals, followed by Sam Chichak of the Richmond Sockeyes with five.
