Flames respond with win over Panthers

Photo: John Uwins

Guildford Flames responded to a Saturday night defeat in Nottingham by beating the Panthers 6-2 on Sunday, coming from two down and scoring six straight goals on their way to the win.

As they had done 24 hours earlier, the Panthers went two ahead in the opening period - Otto Nieminen jamming the puck home at 11:59, before Hugo Roy took a smart pass off a rebound to double the lead at 14:15. Unlike the game in Nottingham, however, the Flames were able to respond quickly - nine seconds in fact between going two down and Bradley Lalonde's big slapshot got the Flames back to within one. They tied the game with a Lewis Hook tip off a Ben O'Connor shot 90 seconds later, while just before the 19-minute mark Peter Crinella latched onto a big rebound from a Hook shot to put Guildford ahead. 

Panthers' Mathieu Lemay was ejected for a slew-foot major 7:13 into period two, which the Flames took advantage of with Hook scoring their fourth of the night just over a minute into the powerplay. Brett Ferguson made it 5-2 with six seconds left in the period to give the Flames a comfortable advantage heading into the third.

Panthers Head Coach Jonathan Paredes was ejected for something he said to the officials in the intermission, while Steven McParland added the only goal of the final period at 46:55 to give a 6-2 final score.