Nottingham Panthers have won the 2026 Challenge Cup after beating Coventry Blaze 3-2 in overtime at a sold-out Motorpoint Arena.
A very fast-paced opening period took just 28 minutes with barely any whistles as the teams traded plays at each end of the ice, but neither could find a goal.
At 2:56 of period two, Mike Pelech’s deflection deceived Kevin Carr and flew past him into the net to open the scoring for the Blaze. The Panthers levelled just under 12 minutes later when a smart pass found Mitch Fossier in the slot to fire past a very impressive Mat Robson.
The Panthers went ahead 6:35 into the third when Chase Pearson’s faceoff win set up Jakob Stridsberg, who fired home from the slot through a screen.
Coventry levelled on their only powerplay of the game through Elijah Barriga, tying things up with 8:04 to play.
The Blaze survived a slashing penalty on Grant Mismash in the final 26 seconds of regulation and the game went to overtime. At 11:29 of the extra period, Bryan Lemos’ pass allowed Didrik Henbrant to cut across two defencemen in the slot and fire into the top corner of Robson’s net to win the game.
Photo: Scott Stevens
