Cardiff Devils 2-3 Nottingham Panthers *aot (Elite League) 14.12.19
Nottingham Panthers 2-3 Manchester Storm (Elite League) 15.12.19
No double delight for Nottingham Panthers this weekend after beating Cardiff on Saturday night in overtime they were second best against the Storm on Sunday.
The weekend started well against the leagues second best team as Panthers took a two goal lead in Wales through Mark Matheson in the first period before Julian Talbot netted to double the away teams advantage but when Pope pulled one back in the second period it set up a tense third as the Devils would eventually level through Fournier for a point in taking the game in to overtime.
Ollie Betteridge however cut the Cardiff celebrations short with his shorthanded winner after Talbot’s assist giving the Panthers two points on the road setting them up for Sunday’s visit of Storm quite nicely.
No two games in Hockey are ever the same though as Nottingham expecting to roll over Manchester didn’t quite happened despite twice having the lead.
Sam Herr netted midway through the first period to give the home team a slender advantage but Storm levelled moments before the break as both sides tied going into the second.
A scoreless second period set up a third with all to play for and when Nottingham took the lead through Malmquist it looked like a four point weekend until Samuelsson levelled before Balmer slashed home misery on the home fans with a winner.
The Panthers next match is to defend their 5-1 lead against Guildford Flames in the second leg of the Challenge Cup Quarter Final on Wednesday night with Coach Wallace stating “We need to keep things simple and play a zero-zero game” continuing “if we go in thinking we’re four up that’s going to bight you”.
*Main image @PanthersIHC Betteridge scores in overtime against the Devils.
