Devils @ Panthers 24.11.12

22nd Nov 2012 | Posted by Simon Rafferty

Saturday night the Devils take on the Nottingham Panthers at home in the NIC, with both teams on equal points and in third place overall in the league this game has all the markings of being a cracker. This will be the fourth meeting between the two teams this season with the games so far going with the home ice advantage 2-1 to the Devils with two wins at home and a loss away in Nottingham.

We took an in depth look at the Panthers squad earlier in the season which you can check out here http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/news/devils-vs-panthers-challenge-cup-preview/  since then the Panthers have added 2 new imports in NHL lockout forward Anthony Stewart and returning defenseman Guy Lepine who’s hopes of a North American signing were cut short by the NHL lockout.

The Panthers played twice last weekend first up on Friday in a dead rubber game against the Steelers where, both coaches made the decision to play their backup goaltenders at home in Nottingham.

The first power play of the night went the way of the Steelers and they took advantage of the extra man as Drew Fata fired them in front at 10.54. The Panthers themselves got a power play opportunity in the 17th minute, but they were unable to take advantage with the extra man and the Steelers went in at the break with a one goal lead.

The Panthers again got their power play unit into gear early in the second period as Eric Werner restored equality as he netted at 4.59. Like the first period it looked as though this was going to be the only marker. However, Bruce Graham had other ideas and at 17.51 he put the hosts in front for the first time in the game.

Panthers increased their lead as Graham netted his second of the game at 43.33. Not long after this the Steelers went on the power play and 30 seconds in, they had cut the deficit to one as Tylor Michel found the net at 45.40. Despite there being three quarters of the third period to play neither team could add to their goal tally.

Nottingham Panthers 3- 2 Sheffield Steelers

 Sunday night saw the  Panthers  in an ill-disciplined game at the Skydome against the Rock Em Sock Em Blaze.
The opening period saw Panthers take the lead at 11.44 with a power play strike of their own as Robert Lachowicz was on target. That lead lasted barely a minute however as at 12.50 Gerome Giudice restored equality.

An early goal by Blaze via the stick of  Shea Guthrie saw the Blaze in the  lead 2-1 but Panthers came back late in the period and Lachowicz added his second to make the game 2-2 going into the third.

Third period penalty trouble for the visitors saw firstly Brad Leeb edge Blaze ahead again on the power play and a delayed penalty call only 57 seconds in and then At 41.55 the lead was extended with Dustin Cameron on target again on the power play.

Giudice scored his second of the game at 44.58 to round off a purple patch for Paul Thompson’s men and effectively the game was over as Panthers had little left in the tank to mount a comeback.

Ending their  five-game winning league run the Panthers lost this one.

Coventry Blaze 5 - 2  Nottingham Panthers

Coming into the game this weekend the Panthers appear to be at full strength and carrying at extra Impost they also see the  return of  forward David Clarke who was back on the ice at training this week  and will be back in the line-up for this weekend’s games. “Clarky” was the last one off the ice today as he stayed back for extra shooting practice.
 
He said afterwards : "I'm still icing things after exercise but it’s good to go. No player likes being sidelined with injury and I'm itching to get back to help the team."

Looking at our games against the Panthers this season the ones to watch look to be pretty much anyone called David with David Ling on 4 Goals and David Clarke on 2 goals against the Devils. In all games Panthers scoring is led by Matt Francis on 29 points followed closely by David Ling also on 29 points and  Bruce Graham not far behind on 19 points.

Notingham have number one in the league Craig Kowlaski in nets who boats a 91.3% save percentage.

For a round up of all the Devils action last weekend we'd suggest you check out http://theworldofsportbyateengirl.blogspot.co.uk/

Looking at the Devils stats versus the Panthers so far this year our stand out guys have been Mac Faulkner who has 2 goals and Chris Blight who’s also scored twice on the Panthers, we will unfortunately be missing Max Birbraer who’s lit the lamp against the Panthers 3 times so far this season.

Devils will be missing Max for this game who is still suspended and will more than likely also be missing Tyson Marsh and Bari McKenzie as well after a groin injury last weekend. 

We will be running the “ridiculously childish and disgustingly biased” Match Night Live service for this game, expect name calling and one eyed bias in epic proportions, at the usual location of http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/mnl if you'd like to help out by texting updates (we’d be happy to hear from you) or chip in with some comments on the night please contact us at matchnightlive@gmail.com.

For details of upcoming away travel with Red Army Travel and you can get all the information here http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6639