Nottingham Panthers 3-4 Cardiff Devils (Challenge Cup Semi Final 2nd Leg) 29.01.20
Nottingham Panthers were knocked out of the Challenge Cup at the semi final stage at the Motorpoint Arena last night losing 4-3 to Cardiff Devils after conceding three goals in the third period without reply.
With the first leg in the balance tied at 5-5 it was winner takes all in Nottingham for the second leg and the Panthers got off to a perfect start when Bulmer netted just after five minutes to put the hosts 1-0 up on the night and 6-5 up overall.
Things got even better for Nottingham as Bulmer made it two but Haddad replied to bring the Devil’s back into the game going into the second period.
Ryan Horvat slashed home to make it 3-1 on the night and 8-6 over the two legs with just one more period to play it looked like the Panthers would see out the tie with too much in the bank.
But a catastrophic third and final period began when Haddad netted a Cardiff second midway through the final 20 and when Marjamaki levelled the tie two minutes later the Devil’s had their tails up and there was always going to be one winner from there.
American Matt Pope with the decisive goal on the night not only knocking out the Panthers from a winning position they should have took control from but also inflicting a third defeat in a row on a team currently going through the motions.
It’s now back to the drawing board for Tim Wallace who must pick his Panthers side up with a tough derby encounter at Sheffield Steelers next up in the Elite League on Saturday.
For Cardiff they now face Sheffield in the final on March 8th.
*Main image @PanthersIHC the two teams come to blows in a Challenge Cup semi-final second leg that Cardiff won.