Sun 6 Sep 2026 - 7:30PM
6TH SEPTEMBER 2026: DEVILS 5-2 PANTHERS
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Nottingham Panthers were beaten 5-2 on the road at Cardiff Devils in the final game of the pre-season campaign.
Eighteen-year-old Nottingham Lions forward Theo Thomas played his second successive game for the Panthers after making his debut in last night's 5-4 victory over the Devils at the Motorpoint Arena.
Defenceman Darick Louis-Jean missed a second game in a row while former Cardiff forward Zach O'Brien was unavailable because of a prior family commitment this weekend. Mat Robson started between the pipes with Kai Edmonds as back-up.
Cardiff score three unanswered goals
Devils raced into a two-goal lead inside three mintues and went ahead after only 24 seconds when Panu Mieho went top-shelf after bursting through the Panthers defence (00:24).
It was 2-0 when Bayley Harewood fed Jake Sacratini at the backdoor on a swift two-on-one break (02:45), before Panthers gradually built momentum which saw Jaakko Niskala go close while Matt Alfaro was denied on the powerplay.
The Devils scored their third just as a late first-period powerplay expired when Robson made two good close-range saves, but the puck fell to Brandon Estes who found Thomas Caron to score from the right-circle (19:07).
Pearson gets Panthers on the board
Robson was replaced by Edmonds at the start of the second period and Panthers scored on the powerplay as Tim Doherty and Ben Corbeil had shots saved by Ben Bowns, but Chase Pearson mopped up the rebound for his third goal of the weekend (25:04).
Edmonds made two good saves in quick succession as he reacted well to Cardiff redirects and at the other end, Ollie Betteridge and Doherty went close for the Panthers.
Alfaro and Cardiff forward Riley Brandt came together for a brief fight which saw a couple of punches landed.
Grondin on target for Panthers but Cardiff seal victory
Edmonds had to be at his best to turn away two close-range efforts on a Devils powerplay but soon after, Nick Welsh scored from the right-circle to stretch Cardiff's lead (48:06).
Max Grondin batted the puck out the air to score a rebound on the powerplay to reduce the arrears (53:33) and shortly after dropped the gloves with Jimmy Oligny.
Cardiff made the game safe on a five-on-three powerplay as Josh MacDonald fed former Panther Kristoff Kontos at the backdoor (56:34).
Challenge Cup opener next weekend
We begin the defence of our Challenge Cup title next weekend as we face Manchester Storm at the Motorpoint Arena on Saturday 12th September (19:00 face-off).
It's already set to be a large Saturday night crowd so you are advised to secure your seats as soon as possible. Come join the passionate #PanthersNation next week and feel that special Panthers roar!