Panthers stay third with shutout win

Photo: Scott Wiggins

Ryan Bednard posted his second league shutout, and third overall this season, to help Nottingham Panthers to a 3-0 win in Coventry at a sold-out Skydome.

"I think it's a big win, all of these points matter, especially on the road. Now we have to keep it rolling," said Bednard in post-game comments. " We’ve had a good stretch recently. It’s always hard coming on the road, we play pretty good at home but going into other buildings is always a big test and it’s something we can build on."

The Panthers were restricted to just two shots in the opening period as the Blaze had the better of things, but a failure to convert on a 5-on-3 and an additional powerplay would come back to haunt the home side.

Otto Nieminen had the best chance to open the scoring in period two when a puck landed quickly at his stick off a rebound, but he could only scoop it across the crease to the opposite post.

Coventry were being restricted to a lot of shots from the outside, but were hungry for loose pucks in and around Bednard.

The deadlock was eventually broken 67 seconds into period three - defenseman Zsombor Garát's shot finding the back of Mat Robson's net through a gap to put the Panthers ahead. A little over eight minutes later, the visitors broke 3-on-1 where Kristoff Kontos used the passing options as a distraction before skating in on Robson and slotting the puck home. 

Robson was pulled with 48 seconds to play, but just 11 later Ollie Betteridge skated down the ice to find the empty net and win it for the Panthers.