Nottingham Panthers and Dundee Stars both picked up pre-season victories on Sunday.
A sell-out crowd at the Motorpoint Arena saw Nottingham run out 4-2 winners over Ducs d’Angers in the Panthers’ first game of pre-season.
It was the visitors from France, playing their second game of the weekend against Motorpoint Elite League opposition, who struck first. Former Cardiff forward Reid Duke put Angers ahead inside 80 seconds, but Max Grondin levelled with 12:58 gone.
The Panthers took the lead when Grondin finished in front at 28:34, a play challenged unsuccessfully by former Panthers coach Jonathan Paredes.
Chase Pearson finished from a neat Zach O’Brien pass to make it 3-1 just 1:24 into the third period, although Jordan Mugnier deflected home from close range at 42:54 to make it a one-goal game again.
Miika Pitkänen scored into the empty net with 69 seconds remaining to round off the victory.
In Glasgow, no goals through 40 minutes between the Clan and Dundee Stars left everything to play for in the final period. Both teams introduced their back-up netminders for the final 20 minutes, with Dan Norton and Dominick Jaglar taking over in goal.
Three goals in just over five minutes saw the Stars skate away with victory. Former Clan forward Gary Haden broke the deadlock at 51:15, before captain Travis Ewanyk doubled Dundee’s advantage at 54:03.
Jonathan McBean added a third at 56:22 to secure a shutout victory in Scott Dutertre’s first game behind the Dundee bench.
