Storm get first series win against Panthers

Photo: Mark Ferris

The Manchester Storm climed into second thanks to a two-goal win over Nottingham on Wednesday night, their first against the Panthers in the 2021 Elite Series.

Ben Lake's excellent tip off Ben Solder's shot put Storm ahead just 1:49 into this encounter, but they were pegged back at 12:10 after a mistake on the offensive blue-line allowed Brett Perlini to skate in and slot home on the breakaway to tie things up. Max Fortier pounced on a rebound from Dallas Ehrhardt's shot at 13:46 to put Manchester back ahead, only for a Perlini net drive to find its way through Sean Bonar at 16:38 to tie the scores.

Manchester scored the only goal of period two with a neat deflection on Tyson Fawcett's shot to put Manchester back ahead on the powerplay, with Tim Wallace having called a timeout later in the period to get his side going after a slow start.

Martin Gran's patient wait and shot beat Ben Bowns five-hole with 4:03 left to play to make things more comfortable for the Storm, who survived a late 6-on-4 to hold on to the win.

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