Nottingham Panthers will play for their second Continental Cup title after shutting out GKS Katowice of Poland with a four-goal win on Friday night.
An almost sold-out Motorpoint Arena hosted the final round-robin game of the Continental Cup Final, with a place in the gold medal game at stake. As expected, the crowd generated immense noise from the opening faceoff and sustained it throughout the night. Jason Grande got the start for Danny Stewart’s side, while Jasper Eliasson was between the pipes for Katowice.
The visitors had a number of early chances, most notably when Mateusz Michalski found space at the back door, but he was denied by Grande. The Panthers responded with a big chance of their own around the five-minute mark as Bryan Lemos cut into the slot and ripped a shot that Eliasson handled well.
A fast, frantic opening meant the first media break did not arrive until 6:31, with heavy Nottingham pressure forcing a whistle as David Noël’s shot was covered by Eliasson. The Panthers continued to dominate territorially for much of the period but were unable to find a breakthrough, and the teams headed into the first intermission scoreless.
The deadlock was broken less than three minutes into the second period. Didrik Henbrant fed Nolan Volcan in the slot, and Volcan fired into the corner of the net to lift the roof off the Motorpoint Arena.
It took another eleven minutes for the Panthers to double their lead. Tim Doherty showed quick hands in front of goal to beat Eliasson, with assists credited to Ross Armour and David Noël.
Katowice had a golden chance to respond late in the period as Mateusz Michalski found Jakub Hoffman on the edge of the crease, but Grande once again stood firm to preserve Nottingham’s two-goal advantage heading into the third.
The final period was all that stood between the Panthers and a place in the final against HK Torpedo. Nottingham continued to control the game, outshooting Katowice for the third straight period.
Six minutes into the frame, Katowice earned the first power play of the game with Henbrant called for hooking. However, just nine seconds after the penalty expired, Henbrant stepped out of the box, pulled the puck into his body, toe-dragged around a defender and fired a seeing-eye shot into the top corner to make it 3-0.
Katowice pulled Eliasson for the extra skater at 54:24, but just eleven seconds later Doherty found the centre of the empty net to seal the result, again assisted by Armour.
The Panthers finish the group stage 2-0-0, scoring eight goals and conceding none. Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk await on Saturday night in Nottingham for the gold medal game.
Photo Credit: Joshua Day
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