Blaze v Panthers
Coventry Blaze
3 - 5
Nottingham Panthers
Match Report
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Nottingham Panthers remain top of the Elite League following a 5-3 victory against Coventry Blaze at the Skydome.
Ollie Betteridge and Finlay Ulrick returned to the line-up after representing Great Britain in the IIHF European Cup of Nations in Poland last weekend.
Kevin Carr started between the pipes with Luca Sheldon as back-up, while Nolan Volcan was the healthy scratch.
Noël and Armour score in first period
Panthers went ahead after only 67 seconds as Mitch Fossier and Tim Doherty combined to set-up David Noël who jumped into the play to score from the left-circle (01:17).
Ross Armour's redirect gave Panthers a two-goal lead (12:31) before the Blaze reduced the arrears on the powerplay.
Grant Mismash's shot on the six-on-four delayed penalty hit the pipes but rebounded off Carr into the net (14:19).
Harris and Fossier extend Panthers' lead
It was 3-1 when Matt Spencer's shot went wide and Brendan Harris was denied on the wraparound before the Panthers forward put away his own rebound at the near-post (24:04).
Noël hit the bar on a powerplay while at the other end, Carr made a superb close-range save to deny Elijiah Barriga.
The game was feisty throughout and Doherty dropped the gloves to go toe-to-toe with Colton Saucerman in the second period.
Fossier scored on the powerplay as he went top-shelf from close-range as Panthers led 4-1 at the second intermission.
Blaze fightback before Hilderman secures win
Matt Alfaro went close and Cooper Zech hit the pipes on a third-period powerplay.
Blaze closed the deficit when Barriga bundled the puck over the after a crazy goalmouth scramble (51:45).
Kim Tallberg made it a one-goal game with a redirect from close-range on the powerplay (56:22), before Panthers made the game safe 14 seconds later with Jarod Hilderman's shot from the right-wing (56:36).