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Cardiff Devils fell just short in their Continental Cup opener in Grenoble, France, losing out to Nomad Astana.

After a quiet first period, Nomads led through Oleg Boiko and Ruslan Ospanov.

Ben Davies hit back for Devils, only for Maxim Musorov to break away to make it 3-1 to the Kazakhs, before Cole Ully replied for Devils.

Nomads pulled away again in the third through Dias Guseinov and Nikita Kolobov, before Evan Mosey and Justin Crandall scored late for Devils.

After falling to the Kazakhstan champions, Devils take on the winners of the Latvian Hockey Higher League Zemgale Jelgava on Saturday.

They complete their group games on Sunday against the eight-time winners of the French League [Ligue Magnus] Bruleurs de Loups.

Each side face the other in a round-robin group between November 17-19.

The Continental Cup is European ice hockey's second-level club tournament behind the Champions Hockey League [CHL] with teams from 18 countries competing this season.

The 2023 tournament started in September, with Cardiff joining the tournament in the third round due to the Elite Ice Hockey League [EIHL] being ranked higher than the leagues which had representatives in rounds one and two.

Grenoble is the host city of Group E matches this weekend, with the 2026 Winter Olympics co-host town Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy holding Group F games.

The top two teams from each group in round three will progress to the final round in January.

IIHF Continental Cup - Round 3 Group E

All matches at Pole Sud, Grenoble, France

Friday 17 November

Nomad Astana 5-4 Cardiff Devils

Bruleurs de Loups 1-3 Zemgale Jelgava

Saturday 18 November

Cardiff Devils v Zemgale Jelgava (15:00 GMT)

Bruleurs de Loups v Nomad Astana (19:00 GMT)

Sunday 19 November

Nomad Astana v Zemgale Jelgava (14:00 GMT)

Cardiff Devils v Bruleurs de Loups (18:00 GMT)