Cardiff Devils took another step towards the Challenge Cup knockout stages with a tense home win against Group A leaders Sheffield Steelers.

Kristoff Kontos scored the games only goal after 43 seconds of the first period, with Devils' netminder Christian Stoever making a string of outstanding saves to protect the home side's lead.

The visitors also struck the pipework twice, while Cardiff's Riley Brandt and Nick Welsh went close.

Despite the 1-0 final scoreline Devils' head coach Paul Thompson described the game as a "classic win".

"An absolute battle for 60 minutes, and Sheffield are a very, very good team," he said.

"They probably had more offensive zone time against us than any team has had this year, but when they did get inside I thought [Stoever] was outstanding.

"Sometimes you've just got to roll your sleeves up and battle, and that's what we did."

With two games remaining for Cardiff they lie in third place on eight points, two behind Sheffield and Nottingham Panthers who both only have one more game to play in the group stage.

Devils travel to Nottingham on Sunday, 25 October (16:00 GMT) before their final game at Manchester Storm on Sunday, 1 November.

Guildford Flames, in fourth, also have 10 points with a final game at Coventry Blaze this weekend, their hosts - and Storm - not completely out of the running for third spot having played fewer games.

The top two sides in Group A automatically qualify for the semi-final, with the third-placed team facing an elimination tie against the runners-up in the smaller group B.