Panthers power past Blaze

Photo: Panthers Images

Nottingham Panthers opened up a four-point cushion in third, and moved back to within nine points of the league leaders, with a 6-2 win over Coventry Blaze in front of a sell-out crowd at the Motorpoint Arena.

Period one had almost everything and was enthralling entertainment. Josh Tetlow found himself in all kinds of space and beat Mat Robson with a bottle-popping high finish just 4:30 into the game. Chase Gresock was sent through 1-on-0 but couldn’t finish from a tight angle to tie the game, but the Blaze were level at 6:10 as fired home from the slot after being fed the puck from Michael Regush.

26 seconds later, Sam Herr crashed home a Mitchell Fossier pass through a crowd of players to put the Panthers back ahead. They could have moved further in front when they were awarded a penalty shot at 12:50, but Robson had done his homework on Kris Kontos and stopped the five-hole attempt.

The period ended with the Panthers 2-1 ahead, although their lead probably should have been greater.

After a first period full of chances, the second was less open. A couple of whacks around Jason Grande on a loose puck drew the displeasure of the Panthers defense, while later in the period Tetlow and Grayson Constable dropped the gloves and took a fighting major each. As the period drew on, the Blaze were struggling to get pucks out of their zone and had Robson to thank for saves off Tetlow, Fossier and Herr to name but a few.

Heading the other way, Alessio Luciani was moments away from breaking 2-on-1 for the Blaze, but got the puck caught in his feet and the opportunity went by. The visitors did well to see out the period just one behind.

The Panthers made their dominance count with two goals just over four minutes apart to start period three. Tim Doherty tipped a Matt Spencer shot just in front of Robson to put the home side 3-1 up 88 seconds into the third, and took Didrik Henbrant's pass nicely before dekeing Robson to finish at 45:28. Mitchell Fossier made it 5-1 a little over two minutes later as the home side began to cruise home. Zach Heintz pulled one back for the Blaze with 6:24 to go, but Reid Stefanson rounded off the scoring with just under four minutes to play to give the Panthers their first win in two.