Steelers v Panthers

Match Report

Nottingham Panthers secured a point but are beaten 3-2 on the road at Sheffield Steelers in the Challenge Cup.

Panthers named the same line-up as last week's game with Manchester Storm, with Mat Robson between the pipes and Luca Sheldon as back-up.

Panthers on top but no goals in first period
Danny Stewart's side outshot the Steelers 16-7 in an excellent first period which saw Tim Doherty go close inside the opening 30 seconds.

Doherty was denied on the wraparound and Zach O'Brien saw his shot saved by Matt Greenfield as Panthers broke two-on-one.

Gordie Ballhorn's deflected shot hit the pipes as the session drew to a close while at the other end, Robson made a great save to stop Dominic Cormier.

Panthers lead at second intermission
The hosts went ahead 16 seconds into the second period when Mitchell Balmas scored from the right-circle (20:16).

Steelers came close to adding a second soon after following a three-on-one break, but Aiden Hansen-Bukata did superbly to sweep a loose puck out of the crease.

Panthers turned the game around with two goals in just under three minutes as Matt Alfaro's feed from behind the net found Doherty to go top-shelf from the slot (26:47) and Joe Hazeldine fired through traffic with a superb finish from left-point (29:36).

Robson made a huge save as he got across to stop Steelers on 3-on-0 break shorthanded at the backdoor as Panthers went to the second intermission with a one-goal lead.

Balmas scores second to force overtime
Robson made a fine stop to turn away Aatu Aarnio's shot early in the third session, but Sheffield equalised through a pinpoint finish from Balmas from the top of the right-circle on the powerplay (51:11).

Ben Corbeil had a chance late in the period for Panthers but Sheffield looked the most likely to score and Robson had to be at his best to turn away two close-range efforts.

Tait wins it for Sheffield in overtime.
It was mostly one-way traffic in overtime with Robson making three good saves which included stopping a penalty shot by Balmas.

But Sheffield took the extra point when Ryan Tait cut across the right to fire past Robson from the right-circle (64:23).