Stars v Panthers

Match Report

Otto Nieminen scored a hat-trick but The Nottingham Panthers were beaten 7-4 at Dundee Stars in the Elite League on Friday night.

Panthers were without the injured trio of Mike Caruso, Carl Neill and Logan Neilson. Rok Stojanovic got the start in goal with Luca Sheldon as back-up.

Nieminen scores twice in even first period
​Panthers had all the early pressure as Otto Nieminen's shot was saved and Hugo Roy hit the pipes inside the first minute.

At the other end, Stojanovic made good saves to deny Elijah Vilio and Xavier Poulio but could do nothing to stop Brent Beaudoin's shot which went in off the post during a spell of four-on-four (11:33)

Mathieu Lemay and Alexander Lunsjö combined to set-up Nieminen with the redirect as Panthers levelled on the powerplay only 63 seconds later (12:36).

Didrik Henbrant did well to keep the puck in the zone and Nieminen reacted first in the right-circle to score his second of the night (17:22), but Vilio fed Jake Elmer to equalise for the hosts on the doorstep (19:11).

Hat-trick for Nieminen as Panthers lead at second intermission
Joe Hazeldine and Stephen Anderson had chances for the Panthers in the opening stages of the second period, before the game burst back into life with two goals in 57 seconds.

Westin Michaud provided the feed for Anthony Luciani to score in the slot (33:22), but Dundee forced a turnover and Anthony Rinaldi used his speed to beat the Panthers defence and fire past Stojanovic (34:19).

Panthers went ahead again with just two seconds of the period remaining as Nieminen completed his treble when he tipped-in Henbrant's shot (39:58).

Dundee score four times in third period
Stars scored three times in under three minutes to take control of the game, started off when Josh Brittain buried the puck past Stojanovic from the slot on the powerplay (43:41).

Ryan Valentini netted from close-range (45:43) before a broken play saw James Phelan score at the backdoor (46:37).

After a turnover, Dow drove the net and sealed the game as he fired past Stojanovic (57:45).