Sheffield Steelers 5-4 Nottingham Panthers *aot (Elite League) 23.11.19
Manchester Storm 4-5 Nottingham Panthers (Elite League) 24.11.19)
After qualifying for the Continental Cup finals last week Nottingham Panthers were back in domestic ice hockey action at the weekend as they faced bitter rivals Sheffield Steelers on Saturday night before travelling to Manchester on Sunday to face the Storm.
In a weekend of mixed results the Panthers were beaten in overtime by Sheffield at the FlyDSA Arena after leading by two goals and coming from two behind themselves. In Manchester however the night was much better as a late Julian Talbot winner sent the points back to Robin Hood country.
Both games ended 5-4 but the Panthers were off to a slow start in Sheffield falling behind to two first period goals before Mark Matheson pulled back the deficit following good work from Hansen and Lepine.
In the second period the Panthers came out guns blazing and levelled through Perlini during a powerplay before Bulmer shorthanded gave the away side the lead. Things got even better as Perlini struck again but Vallerand pulled one back for Sheffield and set up a tense third period which the home team eventually scored in to send the game into overtime.
It was up to Canadian Brendan Connolly to score the winning goal after 4 minutes of the extra period with all but not lost as Nottingham gained a point for the overtime defeat.
On Sunday things were much better and the Panthers took a three goal lead thanks to Perlini in the first period before Herr and Perlini again within three minutes of the second period looked to have knocked the stuffing out of the home team.
Manchester did however pull things around as Gagnon and Puskarich during a powerplay set the tie to a one goal game going into the third.
Julian Talbot however restored the two goal advantage within seconds of the third period but when Kyle Hope and Adam Hughesman netted in quick succession it looked like the second match of the weekend would go to Overtime for Nottingham until Julian Talbot netted with just over four minutes remaining to give the Panthers the win.
Next up for Nottingham is Glasgow Clan on Friday as the Panthers look to consolidate their playoff place against the Elite League’s second placed side.
*Main image @PanthersIHC Bulmer scores as he did against Steelers.
