Panthers end road trip with win

Photo: Derek Black

Nottingham Panthers ended a three-in-three on the road with a 4-1 win over Dundee Stars on Sunday night.

"It was a good win for the boys, a lot of character there," said Jason Grande, who backstopped the Panthers to the win. "The third game in three days and we just kept it simple, trusted what we needed to do, paid attention to details and didn't overcomplicate things which made it a lot easier to get the job done tonight." 

After the Stars failed to clear their zone, Nottingham took advantage and opened the scoring early at 02:17. Tim Doherty picked up a pass from Matt Alfaro in the slot, and sent the puck over the shoulders of Richard Sabol to make it 1-0. 

A solid forecheck from the Panthers resulted in Matt Alfaro finding himself alone in front of the Stars net, with the Canadian beating Sabol to make it 2-0 at 18:23. 

The visitors made it 3-0 just 26 seconds into the second period, with Hugo Roy’s pass from behind the Stars net finding Didrik Henbrant in the slot who sent a one timer past Sabol.

Nottingham maintained consistent control throughout the period, with Dundee’s best chance coming at 25:00 as Spencer Naas sent a tight angle shot off the rush which was denied by Jason Grande. 

"You've got to keep going, you can never stop and these two points are crucial in the season," added the Panthers' goalie. "If you want to stay in the race for the title and send a message to the league you have to be ready to play every night and I think the boys did a good job of that tonight"

The Stars did get themselves on the board early in period three as the Panthers began to tire. Neat passing saw the puck played into Brett Gravelle in the slot to slide into a gaping cage with Grande out of position and make it 1-3.

Dundee got life from the goal and carried the majority of the possession in the closing 15 minutes. The home side did work a couple of half-decent chances, but found Grande in fine form in the Panthers net to keep his team two ahead. With 5:44 to go, Ben O'Connor's objection to a hit on him saw the Stars defenseman take a late cross-checking minor - something the Stars didn't need.

Sabol was pulled with 2:08 to go, and having killed off the penalty the hosts also called a timeout with 71 seconds left. After the Stars felt they were denied a couple of icings, Otto Nieminen found the empty net with 10 seconds to play to round off the scoring. Drydn Dow was assesed a minor for sharing his thoughts on the previous non-calls.