Sun 24 Mar 2024 - 6:45PM

24TH MARCH 2024: DEVILS 7-6 PANTHERS

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A very short-benched Nottingham Panthers produced an heroic performance but were beaten 7-6 by Cardiff Devils in Wales after penalty shots.

Panthers were once again without Mike Caruso, Carl Neill, Logan Neilson and Jake Ryczek and lost defenceman Myles McGurty in the first period following a bad hit by Cardiff forward Chad Pietroniro.

On a night of outstanding moments. Otto Nieminen scored his second hat-trick in four matches while Alexander Lunsjö slotted back to play on defence following the injury to McGurty.

Lunsjö on target on powerplay but Devils in control
Cole Sanford put the hosts ahead after only 62 seconds going high-glove over Stojanovic (1:02) and Ben Davies made it 2-0 from the slot after good work by Pietroniro on the left boards (2:48).

Panthers had chances for Jordan Kelsall, Stephen Anderson and Lunsjö in quick succession, but Ryan Barrow scored Cardiff's third on the rebound from close-range (15:54).

Pietroniro was thrown-out for boarding McGurty which saw Kelsall drop the gloves with the Devils forward and Panthers scored on the subsequent powerplay from Lunsjö's shot through traffic (18:56).

Panthers hit back with three second-period goals
Lunsjö dropped back to defence to fill the gap left by McGurty, but Panthers didn't let their short-benched woes trouble them as Félix Paré set-up Nieminen to sweep in Nottingham's second goal of the five-minute powerplay (21:15).

Riley Brandt fed Sanford at the backdoor (23:06) for Cardiff's fourth before Ollie Betteridge won the puck on the right boards, cut inside and fired over the shoulder of Ben Bowns for his first goal since returning from injury to make it a one-goal game (28:45)

Panthers equalised when Joe Hazeldine's shot was saved and Anderson reacted first to get the puck to Nieminen who buried his second of the night (30:30) - a goal which saw Tyler Wall replace Bowns in the Cardiff goal.

Betteridge was denied by Wall on a short-handed breakaway and just after the Devils powerplay expired, Brandon Alderson scored Cardiff's fifth from the left-circle (38:59).

Nieminen scores second hat-trick of season
Joey Martin hit the base of the right-hand post for the Devils before Stojanovic made a superb glove save to deny Brandt.

Mathieu Lemay breezed through the Cardiff defence but saw his shot saved by Wall, before Anderson converted a two-on-one short-handed break to equalise for the Panthers (48:20).

Nieminen completed his treble when he tipped-in Hazeldine's shot on the powerplay to put Panthers ahead for the first time (52:01), but Cardiff hit back as Sanford fed Martin to equalise (55:43).

Devils take the extra point in the shootout
Panthers killed-off a penalty to Hazeldine in overtime and Stojanovic made an outstanding pad save to stop Jamie Arniel on the breakaway.

Lunsjö scored for the Panthers in the shootout and after the both sides netted once after the first five shots, Justin Crandall netted the winning penalty shot in sudden-death.