Leaders put 7 past Clan

League leaders Nottingham Panthers extended their advantage at the top of the table with an emphatic 7-1 win over Glasgow Clan on Friday night.

Glasgow struck early, taking the lead just 2:11 into the game when Brett Neumann hammered in a one-timer. The visitors then made a goaltending change at the break as Lucas Brine replaced Sami Aittokallio, who did not return.

It took only 60 seconds for the Panthers to beat the new man. Matt Alfaro collected the puck at the circle, cut inside, and finished high over Brine to level the game. “That was really good. I think we played according to our game plan and we had all four lines going,” said Didrik Henbrant, reflecting on the Panthers’ response.

Nottingham then turned the game on its head in the second period. Chase Pearson put them ahead at 28:18 from a Matt Marcinew feed, before Henbrant broke away and popped Brine’s water bottle 59 seconds later to make it 3–1. “Sometimes you don’t find the net, and sometimes the puck is rolling for you, so it was a good feeling and I’ll take that,” Henbrant said.

Ross Armour then redirected an Alfaro pass into the net at 33:02, sending the Panthers into the intermission firmly in control.

Henbrant struck again 128 seconds into the third period, completing a standout performance. Marcinew added Nottingham’s sixth at 44:42 and Brendan Harris capped the scoring with 19 seconds left.

Henbrant, who finished with two goals, noted afterwards: “I think we have more to give, actually. I think we can play better. We’re definitely a threat in this league this year and it’s fun to play on this team.”

For Clan, Hugo Roy admitted the night fell well short of expectations. “It’s not what I was expecting. Obviously I’d hoped it would go differently but it was nice to be back playing here in this arena. We knew Nottingham had a good team, we tried to stay focused, and will need to see where we got it wrong before we play them again. I think at the end we backed off a little bit. Next time we have them in our barn and we’ll be ready.”

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