Steelers' win costs Panthers in title race

Photo: Panthers Images

Nottingham Panthers face an uphill task if they’re to deny Belfast Giants the league title after a 4-2 home defeat against Sheffield Steelers less than 24 hours after winning by the same scoreline in Sheffield.

“It was a pretty close game, I thought both were this weekend between the teams,” began Steelers’ Brett Ritchie. “I thought we outplayed them a little bit last night and lost, and tonight was a really hard-fought game that we came out on the right side of.”

An early powerplay for the Panthers saw a shot come back off the iron and a good chance for Brendan Harris saved by Eamon McAdam.

Wednesday’s Challenge Cup overtime hero, Didrik Henbrant, opened the scoring less than 10 minutes into the period with a drive to the net that created the chance for him to slot past McAdam despite the efforts of Kevin Tansey.

The Panthers thought they’d scored shorthanded with 5:04 to play, but Harris’ effort was washed out on the ice for the puck not going over the goal line, a call confirmed after video review.

“We played hard, maybe not as connected and didn’t get the bounces that they got,” said Panthers’ Cooper Zech. “Sheffield played fast, they were quick and tried to get behind us.”

Nottingham took their second too many men on the ice call in as many nights, allowing the Steelers to level with a Mitchell Balmas snipe shortly before the first intermission.

As they had been in the first, the Panthers were presented with several odd-man rushes that they failed to take advantage of at the start of the second period. They were punished when Robert Dowd’s slight misfire crept through Kevin Carr’s five-hole with the Panthers goalie out of position, giving the visitors the lead at 26:02.

“I think we generated a lot, but in the end it just came down to the bounces,” added Zech. “We had a lot of 2-on-1s, and we have to find a way to capitalise there."

Stephen Harper tapped home a powerplay goal at 31:34 to put the Steelers into a two-goal lead. The Panthers hit back with a powerplay goal of their own, Tim Doherty from the point, with three minutes to go in the period.

“We’d lost three in a row, I don’t think we’d played badly in any of those so we weren’t totally down on ourselves, but we needed some pucks to go in,” added Ritchie. “It was important to play well and build some confidence.”

Period three saw the Panthers again with a couple of odd-man chances that they failed to take, though their net led a charmed life at the other end. The Steelers were awarded a penalty shot when David Noël was adjudged to have thrown his stick in a last-ditch block on Brett Ritchie. Fortunately for the hosts, the Steelers forward failed to put the game to bed on the resulting shot.

Carr was eventually called to the bench with 30 seconds to go, but with 16 seconds left Balmas put the final nail in the Panthers' coffin with an empty-net goal.