Nottingham Panthers crashed the party on Saturday night defeating the Sheffield Steelers 4-2 at home, in an age-old rivalry.
The defending grand slam champions have lost two straight games so were looking to sweep off the cobwebs, while the visitors were coming off the back of a four-point weekend and wanting to break their three-year losing streak in Sheffield.
No mercy was shown in the first period as a hit on the board and an awkward fall forced Mitchell Fossier to leave the ice (03:07).
The violence didn’t stop there. Swiftly after, Panther’s Jaakko Niskala, Reid Stefanson along with Steerlers’ Marc-Olivier Vallerand were banished to the penalty box (04:51) for a two minute penalty for roughing, granting the home side a power play.
Following a five-on-three, Panther’s Jordan Kelsall served his time in the penalty box for a two minute minor penalty for slashing (06:41).
The orange side capitalised on their power play with masterful puck movement from their attack, setting up Maxim Golod to bring home the opening goal (07:34), assisted by Mitchell Balmas and Dominic Cormier.
This was short lived. Samuel Herr silenced the wave of orange by winning a two-on-one in outstanding shot (09:56) assisted by Logan Neilson and Reid Stefanson, calling lights-out at the Utilita Arena and tying the score 1-1. Despite being suppressed to a small section of the venue, the cheers of the Panther fans were clearly heard.
Panthers were later forced into a penalty-kill with Didrik Henbrant issued a two minute penalty for holding (14:19).
Despite a return to ice for Mitchell Fossier, his side wasn’t able to add to the score, ending the first session on a level playing field.
It was all Panthers in the second period.
Jere Huhtamaa’s failure to repeat his first save left Kristoff Kontos wasting no time in securing the rebound into the back of the net to take the lead 2-1 (25:48).
The misery kept coming for the home fans with a sloppy Steelers defence giving way for Hugo Roy to rub salt in the wounds. A revitalised Mitchell Fossier set up his teammate for a highlight reel forehand-backhand over the goalie (30:30).
The home side had the chance for redemption – they wasted it. Panther’s Matt Spencer was punished with a two minute minor penalty for boarding (33:03), however it was the home side who suffered the most.
Fans bellowed “shoot” but it seemed their message got lost in translation. The home side failed to bury anything in the net due to a lack of sharpness in attack.
They were ‘awful’, one fan shouted as he watched his deflated side leave the ice trailing by two at the end of the session. Even the strongest steel can’t withstand a killer-claw.
The final period had all the drama of a good soap-opera.
Panthers got their first power play of the night after Joona Huttula was sentenced to a two-minute minor penalty for tripping (45:39).
The hungry predators were tamed by their prey after several near misses and a wide attempt from Hugo Roy. That was until lightning struck twice for Sam Kerr. The man of the night stormed the puck at the backdoor (51:21) to raise the score 4-1.
The stadium was shrinking. Fans were leaving, heads down. It was too much to bear.
The intensity was suffocating. A mini-scuffle in front of the Steelers bench caused both Didrik Henbrant and Maxim Golod to face a two-minute penalty for roughing (55:11).
The Sheffield Steelers didn’t want to leave the remnants of their audience without one last hurrah.
Watling, from the floor, found Leavens who generated a clinical goal (57:34) to return the score back to the two-goal margin.
After a break in play due to an incident in the crowd, the water-works and hugs began even before the buzzer sounded to end the night 4-2 to the Nottingham Panthers.
Sheffield Steelers barely cling onto their fourth place standing in the league while the two points move their arch-rivals up to sixth place.
Featured Image Credit: Dean Woolley (@woolster80 on Instagram)
