Fri 16 Sep 2022 - 07:00AM

PANTHERS ON THE ROAD IN MANCHESTER TONIGHT

The Nottingham Panthers play their first Challenge Cup game of the season tonight as they take to the road to face Manchester Storm (7:30pm face-off).

It's the first meeting of the two sides this season and it's a return to their former club for three Panthers players in Adam Brady, Mathieu Gagnon and Mike Hammond.

Brady scored 60 points in 54 league games for the Storm last season, Hammond bagged 158 points in 109 matches from 2017 until 2019, while Gagnon was an alternate captain in the 2019-20 season cut short by the pandemic.

Panthers Head Coach Gary Graham knows his side will face plenty of challenges tonight.

"They built their team for a home-ice advantage and they built an aggressive style," said Graham.

"The first period will see the new guys having to make some adjustments for sure.

"You've got to be ready, especially the goaltender does. Things happen in a hurry and it's a ginormous pinball game in there.

"Pucks are moving and zipping around - and there is no bad shot to have in that rink.

"It's probably the best thing for our team to go into right now. Everybody knows there's no such thing as a bad shot in that rink and we're a team that's no shooting enough.

"So, as a coach, bring it on because we need our guys to start shooting more."

If you can't get to the game tonight in Altrincham, it's live on a webcast. Click here to purchase.