Panthers earn four-point weekend

Photo: Panthers Images

The Nottingham Panthers completed a four-point weekend under interim coach Mark Matheson with a Sunday afternoon home win against the Fife Flyers.

Fresh from a road win in Guildford on Saturday night, the Panthers started well in their first home game since the departure of Tim Wallace. It took just six minutes for the deadlock to be broken, and it was an excellent goal as well. Matthew yers broke down the wing and set up the rushing Ollie Betteridge down the middle who beat Shane Owen with a nice wrist shot finish.

The Panthers had some good chances to extend their lead but ended the period behind. With Kristian Blumenschein sitting a tripping minor, the Flyers pounced on a loose puck to break 3-on-1 the other way, and Michael McNicholas scored his second shorthanded goal of the weekend to tie things at 17:27.

A nice finish from Colton Waltz on the rush, set up by former Panther Tommi Jokinen, put the Flyers ahead with 1:45 left in the period.

Jeremy Welsh tied the scores 1:44 into period two on a Panthers' powerplay when he blasted past Owen from the point. The hosts had the better of the chances during period two but had to wait until 32:21 to regain the lead through Sean Richards from just inside the circle.

The Flyers had the greater share of the possession in the final period but as time grew on and they remained one behind, the game became much more open. The Panthers looked to have made the game safe on a repeat play of the opening goal, but this time a diving Shane Owen denied the home side scoring their fourth. 

Owen was pulled with 90 seconds left as the Flyers pushed for the equaliser but nothing was really doing in front of Carr's net. After a couple of blocked shots on the open cage, Mathieu Tousignant sealed the points with six seconds remaining.

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