Panthers complete home sweep of Devils

Photo: Panthers Images

David Levin scored one of the goals of the season as Nottingham Panthers put on a solid display to beat Cardiff Devils 3-1, securing a 3-0 record over the Welsh side at the Motorpoint Arena this season.

It was an opening period of chances, but just the one goal which saw the Panthers lead after 20 minutes. The Devils' defense went to sleep with 6:20 played which allowed Jordan Kelsall to skate through 1-on-0 and he waited for the Cardiff goalie to go down before shooting into the net to put the hosts one up. Sam Duggan had the best chance for the Devils but the puck appeared to bounce over his stick in close. Mathieu Gagnon and Mark Louis went toe-to-toe in the period to get the crowd on their feet.

The only goal of period two went the way of the visitors. On a rush, Trevor Cox threw the puck on Peyton Jones' net and saw the puck deflect off Panthers' Niko Lahtinen to tie the scores at 25:14.

An excellent pass from Michael Caruso set up Lahtinen to fake backhand and finish forehand to put the Panthers back ahead 4:34 into period three. That seemed like it would be the goal of the game, but a David Levin between-the-legs finish just under four minutes later put the Panthers two ahead in serious style.

Brodie Dupont pulled Bowns will three minutes left to try and find a way back into the game, but the Panthers rode out the final few minutes for a well-earned win.