Panthers score six unanswered for road win

Photo: Scott Wiggins

Nottingham Panthers ended their losing run with a road win in Coventry, coming back from two goals down early with six unanswered of their own.

Coventry got off to the best possible start with two goals inside the opening 60 seconds. Kim Tallberg put them ahead when he took a pass from Tyler Kirkup in the slot and beat Mike Robinson with a quick finish. 14 seconds later, the Panthers turned the puck over in their own zone and Alessio Luciani passed out front to Danny Kristo who beat Robinson with a patient move around the sprawling Panthers goalie.

The visitors got back into the game at 1:22 as Alexander Lunsjo got in behind Archie Hazeldine and fired into the top of Taran Kozun's net. By 6:39, they were level - Felix Pare credited with a goal from a Joe Hazeldine shot that deflected both off him and a defenseman to beat Kozun. 

Before 10 minutes had been played, the Panthers had turned things around with Pare converting a Hazeldine pass in the slot to lead 3-2 and only 9:16 on the clock. 

Pare's night got even more eventful when he was ejected for Head-Butting early in period two, but his team managed to ride out the five-minute penalty without conceding. 

With 10 minutes to play, the Blaze had an equaliser ruled out for a high stick, and salt was rubbed into their wounds when Westin Michaud put the visitors 4-2 up three minutes later. Mathieu Lemay scored into the empty net with 2:39 to play to make it 5-2, while Lunsjo rounded off the scoring 19 seconds later to give the Panthers a 6-2 win.