Sun 1 Sep 2024 - 6:38PM
PRE-SEASON: PANTHERS 7-2 LAUSITZER FÜCHSE
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Nottingham Panthers skated to an impressive 7-2 victory over German DEL2 side Lausitzer Füchse in the GM the GM Memorial Trophy at the Motorpoint Arena.
Ryan Bednard started between the pipes with Rok Stojanovic as back-up in his first weekend back after returning to the club on a short-term contract.
Panthers were without Ollie Betteridge and Josh Tetlow who are away with GB in Denmark, so Bradley Bowering and Tom Palmer were called into the line-up.
Neilson and Berg score after early Foxes goal
The visitors took an early lead when Clarke Breitkreuz scored through the five-hole after he cut inside from the right-wing (2:32).
Panthers turned the game around with two goals in just under three minutes as Palmer and Jordan Kelsall set-up Logan Neilson to fire-in the equaliser from the slot (9:05).
Kelsall won the face-off which led to Adam Berg sending a superb shot bar down past Daniel Filimonow on the powerplay (11:53).
Panthers score four times in second period to take control
Otto Nieminen took advantage of giveaway in the Foxes defence and bundled the puck over the line at the near-post 18 seconds in the period two (20:18).
But the visitors closed the gap to one when Dominik Grafenthin went top corner short-side (22:08).
Stojanovic replaced Bednard just past the midway point of the second session and Panthers made it 4-2 when Berg used his strength to force the puck over the line from close-range (33:56).
Sam Herr fed Kristoff Kontos to score on the powerplay from the left-circle (35:02) and Berg sent Reid Stefanson on a breakaway to fire-in Nottingham's sixth (38:20)
Neilson scores his second to set seal on Panthers win
Neilson scored his second of the night with a superb finish in the top-right hand corner (43:10).
Panthers saw the game out with ease to secure victory and lift the GM the GM Memorial Trophy.
Cardiff next for the Panthers
Panthers are back in action next weekend with back-to-back matches against Cardiff Devils.
Saturday's match in Wales is followed by the two sides meeting at the Motorpoint Arena on Sunday (8th September) in the Aladdin Cup.
The game faces-off at 4pm and is sponsored by AR Signs.