Panthers v Blaze

Match Report

Nottingham Panthers scored twice in the final five minutes to come from behind and beat Coventry Blaze 2-1 in the Elite League at the Motorpoint Arena.

Panthers were without defenceman Quinn Wichers (upper body) while Ryan Bednard also missed out because of injury.

Jason Grande started between the pipes with Nottingham-born Luca Sheldon as back-up.

The visitors dominated the first period, outshooting the Panthers nearly two to one, as Grande made a string of top-class saves.

One of his best was a close-range stop to deny Zach Heintz, but the Blaze forward scored at the backdoor soon after following a perfect pass from Alessio Luciani (10:10).

It was a different story in the second period as Panthers created the better chances with Cooper Zech hitting the pipes from the left-circle.

Otto Nieminen and Hugo Roy also went close as Panthers put 16 shots on goal in an improved second session.

In the third period, a shot from Davis Bunz hit the backboards and the puck fell to Nieminen who scored from a tight angle to equalise (55:38).

The Motorpoint Arena erupted just over two minutes later when Zech got the puck just inside the blueline and took his time to skate to the left before firing home a beautiful winner for his first goal of the season (57:46).