Devils v Panthers

Match Report

Nottingham Panthers were beaten 5-3 on the road at Cardiff Devils in Group A of the Challenge Cup on Friday night.

Head Coach Danny Stewart shuffled his top three forward lines around, as well as his six defenceman. Kai Edmonds got his first start between the pipes with Luca Sheldon as back-up.

Doherty on target as first period ends all-square
Edmonds made an important save to stop Josh MacDonald on the doorstep after only 15 seconds, before Panthers went ahead when great speed by Zach O'Brien down the left-wing set-up Tim Doherty in the slot (04:12).

The Panthers netminder went post-to-post to deny Ryan Barrow, but was beaten soon after by Nick Welsh's shot through traffic (11:32).

Panthers had a goal disallowed inside the final 10 seconds of the period as Max Grondin's rebound finish was washed-out by the officials for a kicking motion.

Devils lead after two periods
Edmonds made two excellent close-range saves in quick succession as Cardiff made a strong start to the second session.

Cardiff took the lead when Gleason Fournier went top-shelf from the high slot (33:41) and Edmonds made a big stop on Bayley Harewood moments later.

At the other end, Christian Stoever stopped a Brandon Frattaroli breakaway and Miikka Pitkänen had a goal disallowed for a high-stick.

Panthers push hard in third but Devils secure win
Three goals in just over two minutes sprung the game back into life, which was started when MacDonald won the battle at the net and forced the puck over the line (43:39).

O'Brien and Chase Pearson combined to feed Ben Corbeil in the slot on the powerplay (44:54), but Devils regained their two-goal lead within 51 seconds as Nolan Yaremko jumped onto a rebound (45:45).

Darick Louis-Jean dropped the gloves with Yaremko moments later and the physicalness sparked Panthers into life with their best spell of the game.

Pearson set-up O'Brien who was so strong at the net and turned on the spot to slot the puck past Stoever (53:49).

Panthers lifted Edmonds for the extra skater but the Devils wrapped the game up when Joey Martin scored into the empty net (59:12).