Panthers v Steelers

Match Report

Nottingham Panthers came from 2-0 and 3-2 down to beat Sheffield Steelers 4-3 at the Motorpoint Arena in the Elite League.

Johnny Curran made his home debut but Panthers were without the injured Mitch Fossier and Brendan Harris. Jason Grande got the start in goal with Luca Sheldon as back-up. Kevin Carr and Jakob Stridsberg were the healthy scratches.

Balmas gives Steelers first-period lead
Sam Tremblay sent Mitchell Balmas clear to score on his backhand to put Steelers ahead (06:54) with the first big chance of the opening period.

Grande made good saves to deny Dominc Cormier and Evan Jasper while at the other end, Panthers went close through Matt Alfaro, Ross Armour and Nolan Volcan.

Garát reduces deficit to one
Balmas scored a superb second of the night as he broke away shorthanded before going backhand top-shelf to beat Grande (20:38).

Panthers grew into the period and ended strong with Matt Marcinew and David Noël going close, while Trembley cleared the loose puck from the crease after it slid under Greenfield.

It was a one-goal game when outstanding backchecking by Matt Spencer robbed Balmas of the puck and after good work by Marcinew and Chase Pearson, Zsombor Garát fired a loose puck past Greenfield (37:08).

Panthers turn the game around to secure two points
An outstanding feed by Curran set-up Didrik Henbrant who drove the net and fired past Greenfield for the equaliser (45:40), but Steelers went ahead again 80 seconds later when Balmas cut inside from the right to complete his hat-trick (45:40).

Noël netted his third goal of the weekend with another blast from the blueline to haul Panthers back level with just over 10 minutes remaining in the third period (49:28).

And the Motorpoint Arena erupted when Noël's shot was saved on the powerplay and Tim Doherty cleverly fed Armour to score from close-range as Panthers secured a vital two points (53:47).