Devils Vs Panthers - 3rd November 2014

29th Oct 2014 | Posted by Simon Rafferty

The Devils have just one game this weekend taking on the Nottingham Panthers at home in Cardiff.  This will be the third meeting between the two teams this season with the results going to the home team on both the previous meetings.

Last weekend saw the Panthers in action twice starting on Saturday when they faced the Belfast Giants at home in the National Ice centre. Panthers got off to a good start to the game as Greg Jacina gave them the lead after 21 seconds. Robinson beat two men in his own zone to free space and then combined with Steve Lee before forcing Stephen Murphy into a pad save. The rebound fell straight to Jacina, who made no mistake.

Panthers were certainly getting the puck on the net early on and that was rewarded with a second goal after 4.40.

Once again Robinson was at his best as he and Jacina played an incisive one-two before Robinson glided beyond a defenceman and drilled a low shot across Murphy into the net.

Panthers made a strong start to the second period as well as Murphy made fine saves from Graham, Mosey and Chris Lawrence all close in and a decent stop from Robinson.

The hosts then had consecutive power plays, the second of which saw them go three up as Lachowicz was found at the back post by Lee to score at 28.05.

Belfast thought they had one back on the power play a minute later when Kowalski was beaten from the point. The goal light went on but referee Tom Darnell ruled the shot had hit the post and come back out.

Panthers almost scored shorthanded on the same power play when Lachowicz found Lee with an excellent pass, but Murphy made a fine save from his low shot.

However, Giants did pull one back at 35.05 when Robby Sandrock found Lloyd and he skated away to beat Kowalski one on one.

Belfast went into the second intermission with a massive lift as they made it 3-2 with 12.7 seconds left on the clock. Quick passing found Peacock and he wristed a fine finish back across Kowalski.The visitors came out pressing hard for the leveler and they got it at 46.52.

A defenceman lost possession terribly in his own zone, Peacock skated in on the net minder to make it all square in the third. It was very nearly 4-3 Belfast when the puck was scrambled through Kowalski but Boxill managed to clear off the line with eight minutes left.

There was a rare outlet in the final five minutes when Lawrence won a penalty but was then twice superbly denied by Murphy from close in rebounds.

A final treble save by Kowalski in the last minute took it to overtime.

Panthers were first to threaten when Graham did brilliantly and was hooked back by Ray Sawada with 3.15 to play.
They rained shots in on Murphy for the two minutes but he stood firm before Landry shot inches wide but then Graham drilled the puck low across the Giants net minder to win it.

Final Score
Nottingham 4 – 3 Belfast

Corey Neilson had this to say after the game  “Belfast are a good team. We came out and did a lot of good things in the first period.”

"I thought we were much better in the second period and we controlled the game. In the third period it looked like the boys got a bit nervous.”

“That’s something we have to address but you have to give Belfast credit. They worked hard and whenever we made mistakes they put it in the net.”

Sunday saw the Panthers made the trip up to Dundee to take on the Stars. Where Stars John Dolan gave them the lead after 5.18 before Shane Lust made it 2-0 at 24.52 on the power play.

Jonathan Boxill halved the arrears for the Panthers at 32.01 but Lust made it 3-1 after 41.14 with a shorthanded goal.

However, Evan Mosey gave Panthers hope after 48.26 and Cody Wild took it to overtime with a power play goal after 55.07.

It fell to Nathan Robinson for the second Sunday in a row having scored the overtime winner at Hull last week to seal the win for the Panthers as he scored at 64.38 for the overtime winner.

Final score –
Nottingham 4 – 3 Dundee

The ones to watch for the Panthers (stat wise) look to be

Nathan Robinson 5 Goals and 9 Assists – Who may or may not be off to Germany?? 

Chris Lawrence  6 Goals and 7 assists

David Clarke 6 Goals and 6 Assists

In nets Craig Kowalski  90% Save Percentage and a 2.53 Goals against. Sundays victory in Dundee did come  a price with Craig Kowalski suffering an apparent recurrence of his injury as he was replaced midway through the game by Dan Green in goal.

Injury wise the Panthers look to have issues with Craig Kowalski who had a recent injury reoccur on Sunday and there are also question marks over Chris Higgins and Max Parent according to the Panthers Injury report.

Some other stats worth noting going into the weekend’s games –

The Panthers have clocked up just 243 Penalty minutes compared to the Devils 429 (League leading, we’re number one we’re number one) tally. 

Looking at last weekend’s power plays stats the Panthers had two goals from 10 chances compared to the Devils 2 goals from 12 chances against the Blaze.

Before the Devils game on Sunday the Panthers also face the Coventry Blasé on Saturday who will no doubt be looking to bounce back and frankly keep their jobs after last weekend’s dismal performances against the Devils and at home to Belfast mid week (http://www.eliteleague.co.uk/news-s12109).

We will be running the 'ridiculously childish and disgustingly biased' Match Night Live service for this game, expect name calling, slurs and one eyed bias in epic proportions, at the usual location of http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/mnl

If you'd like to chip in with a comment or make a score prediction on the night you can contact us at matchnightlive@gmail.com.