Nottingham Advance to POFW25

Panthers 8-6 Flames

With a do-or-die game for Nottingham entering the second leg of the quarterfinals against a 1 goal lead Guildford, it was clear that the Panthers had come to play. The home team started the first period with David Bunz receiving a Fossier pass, where he was then able to pull off a slick wrist shot past Guildford’s McAdam, equalising the aggregate 3-3 1:43 in.

Just under a minute later, Samuel Talbot saw himself pick up a minor penalty due to a high-sticking foul. Nottingham used this to their best ability, where a passing play from Zech to Fossier allowed the Panthers to catch an out-of-position goalie and ultimately take the aggregate lead 4:3 only 3:36 into the matchup.

As the teams entered the ice for the second time of the night, a powerplay went the way of Guildford after Cooper Zech received a hooking minor. The Flames were able to convert this due to Ethan Strang shooting the puck past a screened Jason Grande, equalising the aggregate at 27:35.

Nottingham saw another penalty go their way in the form of Zsombor Garat and a tripping call. Guildford once again converted this into a power-play goal after a pass in front of the goal from Ethan Strang allowed Brett Welychka to tap the puck into the net, allowing the Flames to take the lead 4:3 in terms of aggregate at 31:01.

An equalising goal was soon found after Hugo Roy took a rebounded puck and shot it straight back on goal to score at the 36:07 mark. Less than a minute later, Fossier decided to double up after receiving a pass from Doherty, which he used to shoot and score over the shoulder of McAdam at 36:51. 

Period 2 closed out with the Panthers holding a one-goal lead in the 5:4 aggregate.

In the final period, Nottingham were gifted a shootout chance following a tripping penalty from Marcus Tesink. Fossier went up in a 1-on-1 shootout against McAdam, where he took an extremely slow approach, waiting for a mistake from the goalie. Fossier was able to provide the Panthers with some breathing room after scoring to make the aggregate 6:4 at 46:48.

Brett Ferguson was able to find Guildford a chance to keep themselves close after a powerplay goal went his way at 48:56. However, Nottingham were able to defend their lead as the period crept to a close, and to ensure that a semi-final spot was secure, Matt Spencer took a ice long shot on an empty net which led to a final aggregate score of 7-5. 

The Nottingham Panthers now see themselves facing the Sheffield Steelers in a semi-final matchup in the Motorpoint Arena.