Nottingham Panthers had to win in Cardiff to keep their Challenge Cup campaign alive, and they did this in an inappropriate style, with a victory of five goals in the Devils, which were gave home for the second time this weekend.
Kevin Carr stopped 48 shots to record a shutout. “I was happy to help tonight and to do my part,” said the Panthers goalkeeper. “However, shutouts and victories were not done alone, so cap for the boys who blocked shots and took it one for me when I might have been out of position. It was a big team effort. You can’t win this game without a team effort, and we were happy with our bounce back from the game last night that was not our best.”
A quiet opening period saw encouraging game from both sides, with multiple scoring opportunities at both ends.
The Devils had a huge opportunity to take the lead after Jarod Hilderman received a slashing -year old and the homeplay donated a powerplay. However, a strong performance of the Penalty Kill from Nottingham held the game scoreless for 20 minutes.
Both teams kept insisting the opener deep in the second period, but it was Nottingham who broke the impasse. Didrik Henbrant skated the puck in the attacking zone and shot a shot from close to Christian Stoever to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 34:17.
Cardiff pushed back in the final phase of the period and generated various opportunities on the Powerplay, but an excellent Carr display, including an important rescue to refuse Ben Davies on an escape, held the hosts of the board while the Panthers took their lead from one goal to the third.
The Devils took two early minors in the last period and were punished on the last. Some slick puck movement of the Panthers presented Tim Doherty to tap home from the feed by Mitchell Fossier and double the lead at 45:48.
Matthew Marcinew slot the rebound of a Brendan Harris shot to bring the score to 3-0 with just over eight minutes to play, so that the game was effectively sealed. It became even better for the visitors when fossier was the empty net with 4:45 over when Cardiff chased the match before Zsombor Garát added insult to injury with a powerplay goal six seconds from the end.
“We had a pretty strict talk after Saturday’s game, and we understand what is at stake now,” Carr added. “We almost have to win if we want to move forward in the cup. Tonight was a good achievement and a good memory that when we play our game, we can compete with everyone in this competition.”
Photo: James Assinder
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