Cardiff Devils opened the 2026-27 season with a 3-1 victory over Guildford Flames in the Challenge Cup at Vindico Arena.
The Devils fell behind when Cole Sandford - who left Cardiff in the summer - returned to score inside three minutes against his former club.
Josh MacDonald tied the game with a deflected shot midway through the first period and the game remained 1-1 going into the third.
Joey Martin became only the fifth player in Elite League history to reach 700 points with an assist on Kohen Olischefski's go-ahead goal, and defenceman Nick Welsh sealed the win with just under two and a half minutes to play.
Devils netminder Ben Bowns was man of the match, saving 45 of 46 shots.
"It wasn't easy, and I didn't expect it to be easy," said Devils head coach Paul Thompson.
"I'm just glad we got the two points."
Devils travel to Coventry on Sunday (17:30 BST) to face a Blaze side who lost their opening Group A game 6-0 at Sheffield Steelers.
Before Saturday's game the Devils celebrated last season's Play-Offs final triumph over Steelers, with a banner raising ceremony which Thompson felt impacted his side's start.
"I thought it took us probably 10 minutes after the ceremony to get going," the head coach added.
"I thought we were a little bit flat to be honest with you, and I've seen that happen so many times.
"Then I thought we got into the game halfway through the first and I thought in the second period it was all us and we did have some gilt-edged chances to try and take a lead but in the third period it was touch and go."