Panthers v Storm

Match Report

Zsombor Garát scored twice as Nottingham Panthers beat Manchester Storm 6-2 to return to the top of the Elite League.

There were also goals for Brendan Harris, Matt Marcinew, Bryan Lemos and Tim Doherty as Panthers dominated after an early setback.

Danny Stewart's side were without Ollie Betteridge and Finlay Ulrick who are on international duty with Great Britain.

Marcinew returned to the line-up with Nolan Volcan the healthy scratch. Kevin Carr started between the pipes with Luca Sheldon as back-up.

Garát scores twice as Panthers dominate first period
Storm took the lead after only 11 seconds as the feed from behind the net came to Brady Gilmour in the slot (00:11), before Panthers hit back with four unanswered goals.

A superb piece of individual skill by Harris saw him enter the zone, swing around the net and his shot deflected past Drew DeRidder (02:10).

Garát netted twice in two minutes with a bullet of a shot from right-point (06:17) followed by a neat finish from the left-circle (08:17) after good work by Mitch Fossier and Matt Alfaro.

Harris and Chase Pearson combined to feed Marcinew who put away his own rebound to give Panthers the lead at the first intermission (15:52).

Second-period Lemos goal extend Panthers' lead
Lemos made it 5-1 when he buried the puck over the line following a scramble around the net (26:48).

Panthers dominated much of the rest of the period with Harris going close to a second and at the other end, Carr made a great save to deny Joseph Nardi from close-range.

Doherty scores in third period as Panthers secure two points
Gilmour converted a two-on-one break at the backdoor for his second of the night as Storm scored inside the first minute of the third period (40:31).

DeRidder made a great save to deny Alfaro from close-range and the Storm netminder also turned away Fossier's breakaway.

Tim Doherty tipped-in David Noël's shot to set the seal on the win (58:42) as another big Friday night Motorpoint Arena crowd roared down the final seconds as Panthers made it six wins from the opening nine matches of the league season.