Match Preview - Devils Vs Panthers 22/09/13

20th Sep 2013 | Posted by Simon Rafferty

The Devils complete their weekends games against the second placed Nottingham Panthers at home in Cardiff. The game is a Challenge Cup game and both teams will be keen to take away the points with Panthers having already won their first two games while the Devils got off to a winning start against Hull last weekend. Face-off for this match has been pushed back from Devils’ usual start time to avoid a clash with Cardiff City’s Premier League match against Spurs which starts at 4pm.

This will be our first chance to get a look the Panthers this season for an in-depth look at the Panthers line up we’d suggest that you check out the fairly excellent Chasing the Dragons blog season preview series here  http://chasingthedragons.wordpress.com/2013/08/15/ten-teams-ten-days-nottingham-panthers/  the Panthers have made one change since this was written flying in defenceman Nick Anderson to provide cover for Nottingham Panthers' injured d-man Eric Werner.

Last weekend saw the Panthers in action in a Scottish triple header starting with a loss in Dundee on Friday then following on from that with a shaky win in Fife on Saturday. 

The visitors opened the scoring with a powerplay goal from Chris Murray at 2.55. The hosts were back on level terms with a powerplay of their own from Derek Roehl at 12.30 for the teams to go in at the end of the first session all square.

The home side went in front as Roehl netted his second at 26.29. They held onto this lead until 32.39 when Leigh Salters found the net. The Panthers regained the lead with a shorthanded goal scored by Brandon Benedict at 37.39. Two minutes later they took a two goal lead with Lynn Lyons was on target at 39.38.

The fight back from the Flyers began at 42.34 when Bobby Chaumont scored on the powerplay. He then netted a second powerplay at 54.16 to make it four apiece.

Overtime failed to find a winner and it went to penalty shots to decide the outcome. With Fife only scoring with their first effort and Nottingham netting with their first two it was the visitors who took the extra point.

Final Score Fife Flyers 4 – 5  Nottingham Panthers (After Penalty Shots)

Sunday saw the Panthers end their extended Scottish weekend by winning their second game of three to stay tucked in just behind Dundee at the top of the early season standings.

Capitals were much improved after their mauling the previous night at the hands of Sheffield but with all of the games goals being scored by the end of the second period, Panthers were just too strong in the end.

It took Corey Neilson’s men little time to take the lead with Matt Francis on target after only 3.19. Robert Lachowicz extended the visitors lead at 11.30 but Capitals hit back with a strike by Tomas Horna at 17.06 to end the opening period scoring.

A powerplay effort by skipper David Clarke had Panthers 3-1 ahead at 29.36 and Jonathan Boxill made it four when tucking the puck home at 35.16. Again the home side reminded everyone they were still in this game fighting when on the powerplay Jan Safer scored his sides second of the night at 38.00 but that was as close as Richard Hartmann’s side were to get as Panthers had enough in the tank in their third game in three nights to hold on until the final buzzer and claim the two road points.

Final Score Edinburgh Capitals 2 – 4  Nottingham Panthers

Cardiff hope to have first choice net minder Dan LaCosta available next weekend, although no decision will be made until later this week. LaCosta is recovering after taking a blow to the head against Fife and should start skating again over the next few days.

To hear us chatting about this game you can check out our webcast Into the Furnace here http://youtu.be/EU0RmKXB1Tc

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

We’ll be updating you live from the Inferno “News desk” at the rink thanks to the great guys at Analysis Technologies. If you’d like to chip in with a comment or make a score prediction you can contact us at matchnightlive@gmail.com.

Also if you can't make it down and you don't want to miss any of the action and reading the game isn’t enough you can get the game with commentary from Brent Pope on Devils live TV here  http://www.cardiffdevils.com/ for a jolly reasonable £8.