Panthers edge Steelers in OT

Photo: Panthers Images

The Nottingham Panthers avenged their overtime defeat in Sheffield seven days ago with a golden-goal win of their own in front of 5,485 spectators at the Motorpoint arena.

A 33-shot opening period ended all square with two goals in the opening ten minutes of play. The Panthers made good use of an early penalty of Matias Sointu with Mathieu Tousignant firing home a rebound from close range with 4:44 played. 

The Steelers tied things up with 9:18 played when Justin Hodgman redirected Sam Jones' shot from the point. Both sides had chances to take the lead on powerplays in the second half of the period, but with Kevin Carr and Rok Stojanovič on good form, the period ended all square.

Nottingham had two chances to regain the lead on a man advantage in the opening 10 minutes of period two but couldn't find a way past Stojanovič. They were made to pay on their second advantage when Martin Látal broke through and cooly finished shorthanded with a delayed penalty also on the play for what turned out to be the only goal of the middle period.

Period three had just the one goal with the Panthers tying the game 93 seconds after the restart through quick hands from Massimo Carozza out in front. It was arguably the Steelers who had the best chance to win it late on only for Brady Norrish to come up with an excellent block as the clock ticked down with Carr stranded.

Sheffield had the ideal chance to take the extra point in overtime with a penalty on the Panthers' goalie for tripping, but the hosts killed it off and were energised by the home crowd off the back of it. Inside the final minute, the Panthers turned the puck over and broke 2-on-0, and Kevin Domingue's excellent wrist shot beat Stojanovič to give the Panthers the bonus point.

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