Guildford Flames moved to within two points of the top five with a 2-1 home win over Nottingham Panthers on Sunday night, completing a four-point weekend.
“Really pleased. We had a good game on Saturday and emphasised tonight what we needed to do to get a four-point weekend,” said Flames forward Josh Waller, who scored the game-winner. “I thought we played for a full 60 minutes and we’re a happy group tonight.”
The game began evenly, with both sides creating early chances. Jonathan Racine took the first penalty of the night at 9:44, but Flames killed it successfully. Nottingham were then assessed two penalties inside a minute, first Didrik Henbrant for interference at 10:40 and then Nolan Volcan for slashing at 11:14.
Guildford quickly capitalised on the two-man advantage. At 12:21, slick passing between Mathieu Gosselin and Jamal Watson set up Matt Alvaro, who fired a one-timer into the net to open the scoring.
“Any time you get an advantage like that, you can win or lose games by taking those chances or not,” continued Waller. “It was big for us to score there and then also to kill off the penalty before.”
Panthers responded at 15:40 when Chase Pearson carried the puck into the zone and found Matt Marcinew, whose effort trickled over the line to level the game before the first intermission.
“We were OK, but I think we could be better,” conceded Panthers forward David Noël. “Their goalie was really good and they’re a fast hockey team, so we had to be careful giving them too much space. The difference between winning and losing is pretty small. We put a lot of pressure on them but couldn’t find more than one goal.”
The second period followed a similar pattern, with chances at both ends but strong goaltending keeping the score tied. Justin Fazio produced several key saves during a sustained Nottingham spell of pressure, including a scramble in front of goal midway through the period.
With both netminders standing firm, the teams remained locked at 1-1 heading into the third.
Guildford regained the lead just 31 seconds into the final period when Josh Waller applied the finishing touch at the top of the crease to put Flames back ahead.
“We turned the puck over in front of their net, and Matt Alvaro made a really nice play to get it over to me with the empty net,” said Waller of the goal.
Flames survived heavy late pressure thanks largely to Fazio’s heroics in goal. Cooper Zech struck the post for Panthers, while Fazio earlier denied Mitch Fossier with an outstanding save to preserve the lead.
With Grande pulled for the extra attacker, Guildford came close to sealing the game as Waller and Jack Jacome both hit the post, but the clock ultimately ran out on Panthers as Flames secured an important
Photo: Tyler Bradley
