Panthers pick up first win of week

Photo: Panthers Images

After two games in Week 24 where they were two goals ahead and lost, Nottingham Panthers logged their first win of the week with a 3-1 victory over Manchester Storm in front of a 6,253-strong crowd at the Motorpoint Arena.

Cooper Zech gave the Panthers the lead inside four minutes in what turned out to be the only goal of the opening period. In what is becoming almost tradition for the Panthers, Zech found himself in space on the weak side and finish high into the net to put them 1-0 up.

Storm could and should have been level some five minutes into the period, but Craig Martin shot over from in front of Jason Grande’s net.

Tendeck made two excellent low pad stops to deny Otto Nieminen putting the Panthers two ahead as the home side started finding more opportunities on the rush.

A scramble in front of Grande’s net somehow saw the Panthers keep the puck out, as the home side survived both a 5-on-3 and then 5-on-4 penalty kill to stay ahead. The home side also rang a shot off Tendeck’s post inside the final minute of the period, which ended without score.

3:43 into period three, the home side doubled their lead as Mitch Fossier 3:43 into period three, the home side doubled their lead as Mitch Fossier backhanded a Tim Doherty pass past Tendeck - one he'd possibly want back. An unfortunate hooking call on Noah Carroll at 46:29 didn't please Storm's bench - but they scored shorthanded at 48:15 to ease their frustration off an excellent move by Dallas Ehrhardt.

While Tendeck wasp ulled with 2:27 to play, Jaakko Niskala was called for tripping with 103 seconds remaining to give Storm a 6-on-4 advantage in the final stages. They worked the puck nicely to Tyler Hinam who couldn't get a shot away for their best chance to tie it, but with 13 seconds to go the game was over thanks to Sam Herr empty-netter.