Panthers v Flyers

Match Report

Nottingham Panthers beat Fife 6-0 in the Elite League at the Motorpont Arena on the night of Adam Johnson's Jersey Retirement Ceremony.

Defenceman Cooper Zech returned to the line-up after injury, as did forward Mitch Fossier who missed Friday night's game in Manchester because of illness.

Youngster Tom Palmer made his full Panthers debut, but Matt Alfaro and Tim Doherty missed out through injury.

Ryan Bednard secured a shutout as started between the pipes with Luca Sheldon as back-up.

A moving ceremony for Adam Johnson's Shirt Retirement took place ahead of face-off as his #47 jersey was raised to the roof to be immortalised in Panthers history.

Early Kelsall goal gives Panthers advantage
​Panthers took the lead inside the first minute as Otto Nieminen collected the puck off the backboards to feed Jordan Kelsall who scored from close-rangr (00:56).

Didrik Henbrant was denied on a breakaway by Fife netminder Janis Voris who also stopped Reid Stefanson at the backdoor.

Bednard made 13 saves including top-quality stops to turn away shots by Ryan Foss and Lucas Chiodo.

Two quick goals put Panthers in control
Panthers scored two goals in 82 seconds to take control of the game in the second period.

Sam Herr fed Kristoff Kontos to score at the backdoor on the powerplay (25:05), before Reid Stefanson controlled the puck and fired past Voris from the right-circle (26:27).

Bednard secures shutout as Panthers hit six
Fossier set-up Kontos who went top-shelf short-side for his second goal of the game as Panthers opened up a four-goal lead (49:47).

Zech - on his return - sent Didrik Henbrant on his way to go end-to-end to make it 5-0 with just under nine minutes remaining (51:35).

Bednard continued to stand firm and made two more super close-range saves in succession, before Ollie Betteridge put the seal on the win as his deflected shot from the slot beat Voris as Panthers moved to within a point of second-placed Belfast Giants.