Nottingham Panthers scored two goals in the final five minutes to beat Coventry Blaze 2-1 in front of 6,810 fans at the Motorpoint Arena, in a game where the visitors probably deserved more.
Nick Seitz scored the only goal of the opening period at 10:10 to put the Blaze ahead, and in truth they should have added to their tally in the first. Jason Grande made an excellent pad save off James Constable from point-blank range to prevent the Blaze going two ahead not long after, and the visitors created several more excellent chances to extend their lead before the intermission, but were unable to take advantage.
The middle period was scoreless although an odd-man rush could have led to the Blaze going two ahead, only for Grande to bail the Panthers out again.
The Blaze weathered a Panthers Storm at the start of the third period and came through unscathed. The home side did have the puck in Mat Robson’s net but the play had already been blown down for the puck being under Robson’s body – and with a penalty coming on the visitors. Coventry killed off the minor well to stay ahead going into the final ten minutes.
Having held out for some 55 minutes, the Blaze were undone by a shot from below the goal line. A shot off the back boards fell to Otto Nieminen below the line, and he banked the puck in off the back of Robson’s pads to tie things with 4:22 to go.
Then, with 2:14 to play, a fake by Cooper Zech behind a screen left Robson stranded and gave the Panthers defenseman half of the net to aim at to score his first of the season and put the home side ahead. Stunned, Coventry pulled Robson with 67 seconds to play as they now tried to tie things up.
Chase Gresock had a late chance to tie it but show wide when in close on Grande, while Didrik Henbrant hit the iron when shooting at the empty net in the final 30 seconds.
The Panthers held on for a win that looked like it wasn’t coming for some 55 minutes, closing the gap on the top three back down to three points.
Photo: Panthers Images
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