Cardiff Devils travel to Northern Ireland tonight to take on top of the table Belfast Giants at the Odyssey Arena.
The two sides last met in the Challenge Cup semi-final, with the Giants emerging comfortable 10-4 winners on aggregate after dishing out a 7-1 trouncing in Belfast and a keenly fought 3-3 draw in the return leg at the Big Blue Tent.
The Devils head into the fixture on the back of five straight defeats, the most recent coming in a 1-0 loss away to the Nottingham Panthers on Tuesday night.
The Giants on the other hand are in supreme form, and the runaway league leaders have now won 15 matches on the bounce in a run stretching back to a surprise loss against the Dundee Stars on January 4.
The previous six league encounters between the two sides have resulted in five losses for the Devils, but they did manage to inflict one of the Giants five defeats this campaign, winning 1-2 in Belfast at the start of November.
Tonight’s fixture has added needle as Devils head coach David Whistle, who recently signed a three year deal tying him to the club until 2017, returns to his former stomping ground.
Whistle was head coach at the Giants between 2000 and 2003, and as well as being the sides first ever head coach he also remains the only man to win both the play-off and league title with the club.
The game faces off at 7pm, with Cardiff looking for a win to improve their play-off hopes.
