Nottingham Panthers went top of the Elite League after a dramatic shootout win over Sheffield Steelers at the Motorpoint Arena, sealed only after a last-minute equaliser and a hat trick from Ross Armour.
The first period set the tone for what became an exciting night. Matt Alfaro had Nottingham’s best early look but shot straight into Matt Greenfield’s chest. At the other end, Sheffield created pressure during their powerplay and finished the period strongly, but Kevin Carr handled everything sent his way. The best chance on the break fell to Brendan Harris, who rounded Greenfield but struck the post from a tight angle.
Sheffield struck early in the second period. Ryan Tait won a battle in the corner and found Stephen Harper in front to open the scoring. A well-worked move then doubled the Steelers’ lead at 26:02 when Mikko Juusola appeared ready to skate behind the net but instead fired a reverse pass to Mitchell Balmas, who finished at the near post.
Nottingham got themselves back into the game with 2:27 left in the period. Ross Armour gloved the puck down to himself and calmly backhanded past Greenfield. With 13 seconds remaining, Bryan Lemos produced a superb backhand pass across the crease for Armour to sweep home the equaliser.
Balmas restored Sheffield’s lead just 36 seconds into the third, holding the puck on an odd-man rush and beating Carr after dragging the puck around a defender.
With 2:07 left, Nottingham used their timeout and pulled Carr for the extra skater. The gamble paid off when a rebound fell straight to Armour, who pushed the puck into the net with 1:24 remaining to complete his hat trick and tie the game.
Neither side found a winner in a frantic overtime period, so the game went to a shootout. Nottingham scored twice, Sheffield were held off the board, and the Panthers claimed the extra point.
“It was a tight game,” said Sheffield’s Sam Tremblay. “I think we had a lot of chances but so did they. We gave them a little bit too much in our own zone and they took care of business around the crease. When you go up by two that’s really good for us, but Nottingham kept coming and it was a tough game all the way to the finish.”
“It’s always a big game against Nottingham. The fans are really into it. It’s a long season so we’ll take the point. Obviously we’d have liked to stay top but we’ll need to take care of business when we play them again.”
Hat-trick hero Armour said: “That was awesome. It was a great experience for us to know that we can compete with those guys, and to cap it off in the shootout was awesome. It’s a big rivalry and to be able to beat Sheffield feels really good.
“We were playing well all night, and to be able to tie the game at the end of the second was huge for us.”
On the late equaliser, Armour added: “It’s something that we practise. We know our jobs out there and to be able to capitalise on that felt really good.”
Photo: Panthers Images
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