Panthers come out on top in second OT game of their weekend

Photo: Rebecca Brain

Nottingham Panthers played overtime for the second time this weekend but came out winners on Sunday night at a sold-out Ice Arena Wales.

Brodie Reid gave the Devils the lead with the only goal of period one, finishing a rebound from a Josh Waller shot after the latter had forced a turnover in the Panthers' zone at 13:02.

That lead held until Stephen Anderson's leveller at 21:50, but Reid finished 1-on-0 after a bad turnover by the Panthers in the offensive zone allowed the Devils forward to skate through on Peyton Jones. Good forechecking from the visitors led to David Levin tying things up shorthanded at 33:24, and 63 seconds later Luke Ferrara beat Ben Bowns high glove side to put the Panthers ahead. Another defensive breakdown in the attacking zone led to the Devils' equaliser however, with Trevor Cox netting a Cole Sanford feed after the Devils skated through 2-on-0.

Mike Hammond capitalised on a blocked Marcus Crawford dump-in to beat Bowns on the breakaway with just under 12 minutes to play, a goal which put the Panthers back ahead on their second shorthanded goal of the night.

Marcus Crawford's blocked dump-in allowed Mike Hammond to skate through and beat Bowns on the breakaway to put the Panthers 4-3 ahead with just under 12 minutes to play on a second shorthanded goal for the visitors. They took that lead into the closing stages and despite a couple of attempts at the empty net, the icing calls came back to bite the visitors when Trevor Cox was adjudged to have got the final touch on a looping rebound from a Joey Martin shot to tie things up again at 58:17.

3-on-3 overtime was as chaotic as the previous three periods had been, but it was the Panthers who won it when Bowns saved the initial shot but couldn't find a loose puck that dropped to the stick of Albin Lindgren to win it for the visitors.