Nottingham Panthers earned themselves a four-point weekend, and a six-point week, with a shutout win on the road against Coventry Blaze on Sunday night.
It didn’t take long to open the scoring at the Skydome, with Matt Marcinew putting the Panthers ahead after just 48 seconds when he fired into Mat Robson’s net – ending the Blaze goalie’s shutout streak at two games.
“It’s nice to come out with the points,” began Marcinew, whose goal would turn out to be the game winner. “I don’t think we played our best, but we got better in the second and again in the third so we improved as the game went on. We continue to get better, and had some great goaltending from Kevin (Carr).”
The Blaze’s best chance to level came when Colton Saucerman lined up a slapshot, only for his stick to explode during the shooting motion. Didrik Henbrandt’s wraparound attempt was the other chance of note in the opening period.
If period one was full of action, period two was somewhat lacking. A lot of back-and-forth play saw the Panthers shade the better opportunities, but neither side was able to get on the board.
With only 3:30 remaining in the third, Chase Pearson tipped David Noël’s shot from the point past Robson to put the Panthers two ahead.
“I think we started off really hot, maybe didn’t get the bounces we deserved with around 20 shots in the slot there, so I think it was just one of those nights,” said Blaze forward Grayson Constable in his post-game thoughts. “It makes you really confident when you have a guy like Mat Robson in net when you can count on him. We never try to get too upset and just keep playing our way.”
Robson was pulled with 2:14 to play and, after a couple of attempts on the open cage, Zsombor Garát found the unguarded net to round off the game.
“It was great to get the six points this week, it’s great for us as a team and especially important in the Cup with how tight the standings are,” added Marcinew. “I’m really enjoying it in Nottingham. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first got here, but every day that passes I get more comfortable. It’s been very enjoyable so far and hopefully we can keep this win streak going.”
Constable concluded: “We’re short a few guys at the moment but are starting to get healthy, and it will be nice to get them back so Colton Saucerman doesn’t have to play 30 minutes a night! Everyone is feeling confident going into our next games.”
Photo: Scott Wiggins
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