Panthers v Blaze

Match Report

The Nottingham Panthers kept their playoff dream alive with a convincing 4-1 victory over Coventry Blaze at the Motorpoint Arena.

The win closed the gap on the playoff places to just two points with three games remaining in the season.

Rok Stojanovic, who got a shutout in Fife on Thursday, turned away 27 of the 28 shots he faced with another solid performance.

Panthers were without injured defenceman Carl Neill and Jake Ryczek as well as forward Logan Neilson.

Luciani double gives Panthers first-period lead
Panthers had most of the early pressure with chances for Joe Hazeldine, Didrik Henbrant and Hugo Roy while at the other end, Stojanovic made a good pad save to deny Mitch Cook.

Ollie Betteridge put Panthers ahead just after a powerplay came to an end as he got the final touch to a puck which bobbled and looped past Taran Kozun (13:41).

Mathieu Lemay danced his way through the Blaze defence and forced a save out of Kozun, but Anthony Luciani placed the rebound in the corner for his 10th goal of the season (16:51).

Anderson extends Panthers lead before Blaze close the gap
Otto Nieminen swung-out from behind the net and fed Stephen Anderson at the backdoor to tap-in a third Panthers goal of the night (28:55).

But Blaze got on the board with the period coming to a close as Johnny Curran fed Ian McNulty who fired past Stojanovic off the post (35:03).

Nottingham regained the three-goal advantage on the powerplay wheh Hazeldine cleverly found Roy in space who used the power on the pass to beat Kozun (38:34).

Stojanovic holds firm to help Panthers to vital two points
Stojanovic made two excellent close-range saves early in the third period including one to stop McNulty, while Luciani was denied a second of the night when Kozun turned away his shot from the right-circle.

Blaze lifted Kozun for the extra skater, which included a spell of six-on-four on a late powerplay, but Stojanovic wasn't beaten for a second time and Panthers secured a vital two points.