Panthers v Steelers
The Nottingham Panthers
2 - 4
Sheffield Steelers
Match Report
The Nottingham Panthers were beaten 4-2 at home by Sheffield Steelers in the Elite League on Saturday night.
A short-benched Panthers - who were without Mike Caruso, Carl Neill, Logan Neilson and Jake Ryczek because of injury - kept with the Steelers for much of the game, but the visitors scored twice in the third period to take the two points.
Rok Stojanovic started between the pipes with Luca Sheldon as back-up.
Panthers led at the first intermission when great build-up play from Westin Michuad and Anthony Luciani set-up Alexander Lunsjö to fire into the top corner with a bullet of a shot from the left-circle (10:03).
The visitors - who can win the league if they beat Guildford at home tomorrow - equalised as Dominic Cormier skated at speed into the offensive zone and his shot crept in at Stojanovic's near-post (20:23).
Nottingham went back in-front on the powerplay thanks to super work from Otto Nieminen who created the space and fed Jordan Kelsall at the backdoor who went top-shelf with a ripper of a shot for his third goal of the season (28:10).
Colton Saucerman's shot through traffic just over four minutes later (32:23) saw the teams tied at the second break.
The game-winner for the visitors was superbly worked as Patrick Watling fed Mitchell Balmas in the slot (41:52) and Steelers made sure of the points as they forced a turnover which saw Josh Nichols bury the puck past Stojanovic (51:45).