Panthers v Flyers

Match Report

The Nottingham Panthers beat Fife Flyers 3-2 at the Motorpoint Arena after overtime to secure a huge two points in the battle for a playoff place.

Panthers were without the injured Ollie Betteridge, Mathieu Lemay, Josh Tetlow and Tyler Welsh, but Jordan Kelsall returned to the line-up after missing Saturday's game in Sheffield. Rok Stojanovic started between the pipes with Mike Robinson as back-up.

Lunsjö gives Panthers a first-period lead
Panthers went ahead inside the first three minutes when Westin Michaud won the face-off and fed Alexander Lunsjö to fire top-shelf (2:54).

Anthony Luciani, Hugo Roy and Stephen Anderson also went close as Panthers had most of the possession without reguarly testing Dominik Salama.

At the other end, Teemu Pulkkinen's shot took a deflection and Stojanovic got a piece of it to deflect the puck onto the bar and to safety.

No goals in tight second period
Panthers continued to create the chances as Logan Neilson was denied from close-range after being set-up thanks to a super bit of skill from Michaud

Otto Nieminen went close when Panthers broke two-on-one short-handed, while Fife's best chance of the period saw Stojanovic make a good save to stop Pulkkinen in the slot.

Neilson scores fourth goal in five matches
Neilson breezed away from his man and had two shots saved by Salama, but Fife equalised through Aleksi Makela's one-timer from the left-circle (45:49).

Panthers went back in-front when Neilson cut inside from the left to beat Salama with a wrist-shot and score his fourth goal in five matches (49:01).

Fife quickly hit back to equalise for a second time as Max Humitz turned on the spot and fired high past Stojanovic (52:54).

Nieminen scores crucial overtime winner
Panthers needed only 33 seconds of overtime to secure the extra point.

Carl Neill and Roy set-up Nieminen who skated into the offensive zone to fire home the crucial winner (60:33).