Sat 3 Oct 2026 - 11:00AM
WEEKEND LOWDOWN: BLAZE AND FLAMES
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By Jono Bullard
It’s a return to Challenge Cup Group A action for Nottingham Panthers this weekend as they take on Coventry Blaze at the Motorpoint Arenal.
It's a repeat of the 2026 Challenge Cup Final on Saturday (19:00) before heading south to the Guildford Spectrum on Sunday to face the Flames (18:00).
Head Coach Danny Stewart has described both games as must-win in his midweek interview on Panthers TV and although the points spread is quite tight in Group A, Panthers currently find themselves at the bottom of the group with three points from four games.
However, two weekend wins could see them reach as high as second in the table, so there is still plenty to play for.
Blaze come to Nottingham having won three of the five games they have played this season and come here off the back of an excellent 4-2 Challenge Cup victory over Sheffield Steelers.
They are one place above Panthers in the Group A table with four points from four games.
Coventry have several players in form and on streaks. Jaxson Ezman is on a four-game point streak (1+5), former Panther Brett Perlini (3+1), defenceman Nick Grima (1+2) and Ukraine forward Artem Buzoverya (2+1) are all on three-game points-streaks.
Guildford currently sit fourth in the Group A table with five points from five games and beat Panthers 4-1 at the Motorpoint Arena two weeks ago.
A three-game winning run for Guildford was halted by Manchester Storm at the AO Arena last Sunday, but Josh Waller, Cole Sanford and Mathieu Gosselin all registered multi-point games.
Gosselin and defenceman Jake Willets lead the Flames in scoring with both notching up eight points in six games.
For Panthers, forward Ben Corbeil is the man in form, having scored a hat-trick against Manchester last Saturday. He scored four goals last weekend having also hit the target against Cardiff last Friday night.
Corbeil leads the Panthers in scoring with seven points (6+1) followed by Tim Doherty with six points (4+2), Zach O’Brien with six points (2+4) and captain Matt Alfaro who also has six points (1+5).