31 Mar 2023, 19:30 | Regular season | Altrincham Ice Dome |
Manchester Storm | 1-4 | Nottingham Panthers |
Periods: Shots: | 0-0 ( - ) | 0-1 ( - ) | 1-3 ( - ) |
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Referees: Liam Sewell/Joe Sewell  |  Spectators: 1879 |
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Goals and assists
The race for sixth place in the 2022/23 Viaplay Elite League will go
down to Saturday after Nottingham Panthers came away from Manchester
with a 4-1 win over the Storm.
The opening 20 minutes produced no
goals but wasn't short of chances. The best of the period arguably fell
to Scott Simmonds on a shorthanded breakaway which was well-saved by
Peyton Jones, while at the opposite end a bouncing puck seemed to hit
Jeremy Brodeur's skate and bounced just away from the goal line.
The
Panthers took the lead in the second on a strange play where Kelly
Summers' stick broke as he let his slapshot fly, but he got enough on
the puck to see it fly into Brodeur's top corner to give the visitors
the lead at 36:43.
Period three saw the Storm pile pressure on
Jones' net. He pulled off a string of excellent saves off the stick of
Finlay Ulrick three plays in a row to keep his side ahead with Archie
Hazeldine's smart defensive play also foiling a Storm breakaway. A delay
of game call on Hazeldine gave Storm a two-minute advantage to tie the
game, but things went the other way as Jakub Ižacký sniped into
Brodeur's top shelf to put the Panthers two ahead shorthanded with 8:11
to play. However, 15 seconds later Storm did get their powerplay goal
finished off by captain Cam Critchlow.
Chase Harrison missed a
golden chance to level the game with under four minutes to play but shot
over from the slot as Manchester pushed hard in the closing stages, but
a turnover in their own zone from the Storm gifted the puck to David
Levin to put Nottingham back two ahead with 2:07 to play. Former Storm
forward converted a rebound past Brodeur to add some gloss to the
scoreline before the final buzzer.
The result sets up a 'winner takes all' clash on Saturday as the teams fight it out for sixth place.