Devils too hot for Panthers on retro night in Cardiff

Photo: James Assinder

Cardiff Devils came from a goal down to beat Nottingham Panthers by four at a sold-out Vindico Arena, with Joey Martin hitting a hat trick.

Retro night at the Vindico Arena saw an explosive opening period which had four goals over the 20 minutes.

Otto Nieminen put the Panthers ahead with 3:12 played when he got on his own rebound to beat Ben Bowns and open the scoring. The hosts were level two minutes later off a Cody Donaghey one-timer that snuck past Rok Stojanovič's near post, before two goals in under as many minutes put the home side in control. Josh Batch waltzed into the slot uncovered to shoot home at 10:48, followed by Joey Martin took a puck in front and dangled before beating Stojanovič at 12:31. The Panthers restarted the game with a man-advantage after a Trevor Cox slash after the goal caused a scrum.

The Devils continued to press home their superiority in the middle frame. Jamie Arniel topped Bode Wild's shot home 2:23 into the period, while just over five minutes later Joey Martin got the final deflection on a Cox shot to brings the hosts up to five. Marcus Crawford and Jordan Kelsall dropped the gloves before the period was over.

Mathieu Lemay excellently finished a Roy pass to one-time home a powerplay goal 2:13 into period three as the Panthers got back to within three. Martin completed his hat trick with 9:36 left to play to put the Devils into a more comfortable lead that they held until the final buzzer, with some more fighting majors handed out before the game was over.