Storm v Panthers

Match Report

Nottingham Panthers secured an impressive 4-3 overtime victory on the road in Altrincham against Manchester Storm.

Panthers were without the injured trio of Matt Alfaro, Tim Doherty and Cooper Zech, while Mitch Fossier missed the game because of illness.

Ryan Bednard started between the pipes with Luca Sheldon returning as back-up. British forward Oli Endicott was called up into the line-up.

Panthers outshot the Storm 12-6 in the first period with Kristoff Kontos going close in the opening stages and Didrik Henbrant being denied short-handed.

Two quick goals in the second session saw Panthers seize the initiative as Logan Neilson's clever backhand pass found Sam Herr to hit the top corner (23:40).

Hugo Roy found space in the offensive zone and beat Evan Weninger to make it 2-0 only 70 seconds later (24:50).

Bednard made a great save to deny Tyler Hinam but was beaten by Jake Duflinger's tip on CJ Garcia's shot from the point (34:57).

Roy pinged the pipes after a good feed from Henbrant as the period came to a close.

Storm equalised through Chase Harrison from the slot (45:50), before Henbrant broke clear and put away his own rebound to restore Nottingham's lead (51:26).

Bednard made two outstanding saves but Manchester hit back again when Zach Sullivan scored from the blueline (55:32) to take the game to overtime.

Panthers needed just 13 seconds of the extra period as superb work on the boards by Henbrant set-up Kontos to score the game-winner and secure the extra point (60:13).