01 Jan 2025, 18:00 | Regular season | SkyDome Arena |
Coventry Blaze | 0-3 | Nottingham Panthers |
Periods: Shots: | 0-0 (12-2) | 0-0 (12-16) | 0-3 (11-10) | Total: 35-28 |
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Referees: #50 James Ions,Dalton  |  Spectators: 2965 |
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Goals and assists
Ryan Bednard posted his second league shutout, and third overall this
season, to help Nottingham Panthers to a 3-0 win in Coventry at a
sold-out Skydome.
"I think it's a big win, all of these points
matter, especially on the road. Now we have to keep it rolling," said
Bednard in post-game comments. " We’ve had a good stretch recently. It’s
always hard coming on the road, we play pretty good at home but going
into other buildings is always a big test and it’s something we can
build on."
The Panthers were restricted to just two shots in the
opening period as the Blaze had the better of things, but a failure to
convert on a 5-on-3 and an additional powerplay would come back to haunt
the home side.
Otto Nieminen had the best chance to open the
scoring in period two when a puck landed quickly at his stick off a
rebound, but he could only scoop it across the crease to the opposite
post.
Coventry were being restricted to a lot of shots from the outside, but were hungry for loose pucks in and around Bednard.
The
deadlock was eventually broken 67 seconds into period three -
defenseman Zsombor Garát's shot finding the back of Mat Robson's net
through a gap to put the Panthers ahead. A little over eight minutes
later, the visitors broke 3-on-1 where Kristoff Kontos used the passing
options as a distraction before skating in on Robson and slotting the
puck home.
Robson was pulled with 48 seconds to play, but just 11
later Ollie Betteridge skated down the ice to find the empty net and
win it for the Panthers.