Panthers v Storm

Match Report

Nottingham Panthers moved up to second in the Elite League table with a 5-2 victory over Manchester Storm at the Motorpoint Arena.

Panthers are now on 72 points and remain two points behind leaders Belfast Giants who beat Fife Flyers 10-4 at the SSE Arena.

Reid Stefanson returned to the line-up but Otto Nieminen missed out as he continues his recovery from a lower body injury.

Fossier on target in even first period
​Grande made a good early save to deny Stephen Johnson and at the other end, Matt Alfaro shot just wide from the slot.

Josh Tetlow and Alfaro combined to set-up Mitch Fossier to score with a neat finish from the right-circle to put Panthers ahead (10:47).

The visitors equalised on the powerplay when Joe Morrow buried the puck from close range following a huge goalmouth scramble (15:44).

Herr scores twice as Panthers take two-goal lead
Captain Sam Herr scored his 34th goal of the season when he put away his own rebound to put Panthers back ahead early in the second session (20:59).

But Manchester hit back, once again with the man advabtage, as Alexis D'Aoust went top-shelf from the right-circle (30:07).

Panthers scored twice in 75 seconds to take a two-goal lead to the second intermission as Herr tipped-in a shot by Davis Bunz on the powerplay (33:59) and Fossier fed the on-rushing Cooper Zech in the slot (35:14).

Two vital points secured for Panthers
Grande made two good close-range saves before Tim Doherty made it 5-2 when he scored from the left-circle during a spell of four-on-four (49:48)

Storm pushed for a way back into the game but Grande was once again on top form and made three impressive late saves including one to deny Chase Harrison.