The Nottingham Panthers have skated their way to victory 4-1 over the Cardiff Devils in the Motorpoint Arena.
Nottingham dominated all three periods scoring once in the first, twice in the second and once again in the third.
The defeat will feel like a sore one for the Devils who had been on a mini winning streak of three games, last losing to the Belfast Giants.
However, it was much needed for the Panthers who break their losing streak of four including a 5-2 loss to Cardiff the day before.
Penalties Take Their Toll
After scoring twice through Oliver Betteridge and Matthew Myers the Panthers claimed two powerplay goals to seal a dominant win.
Christophe Boivin capitalised on his opportunities with one before the end of the second and another nine minutes before full-time.
Defensive Nightmare
An uncharacteristically poor defensive showing by the Devils who have the third best record in that area of the game.
Netminder Mac Curruth faced 51 shots in the game, 19 of which came in the final period of the game compared to their four.
It was the same story in the first period as well with the Panthers outshooting the Devils by 15 to 10.
Reaction
Panthers fans were understandably overjoyed by the result which sees their side claim a big scalp over a top side in Cardiff.
An unexpected result for both sets of fans, with one Panthers fan tweeting:
The same can’t be said for Devils fans however, one fan summed it up in three words:
https://twitter.com/BirdRhyan/status/1492927568403697668
Looking Forwards
Cardiff’s second spot looks very precarious now as the Belfast Giants sit just one point behind them.
This is with two games in hand as well and following the Steelers win over Glasgow, Sheffield have a four point gap on Cardiff.
Sheffield also have four games on Cardiff making it look increasingly likely that they will claim the EIHL title.
Nottingham Panthers however remain in fourth, three points above Guildford Flames.
Following this statement win they will feel confident they can build on this performance to seal fourth place.
All things considered with how inconsistent they have been of late that’d be a very satisfactory result for the side.
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