12 Jan 2025, 17:00 | Regular season | Dundee Ice Arena |
Dundee Stars | 1-4 | Nottingham Panthers |
Periods: Shots: | 0-2 (7-15) | 0-1 (14-8) | 1-1 (11-6) | Total: 32-29 |
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Referees: #43 Graham Rodger, Ferguson  |  Spectators: 1932 |
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Goals and assists
Nottingham Panthers ended a three-in-three on the road with a 4-1 win over Dundee Stars on Sunday night.
"It
was a good win for the boys, a lot of character there," said Jason
Grande, who backstopped the Panthers to the win. "The third game in
three days and we just kept it simple, trusted what we needed to do,
paid attention to details and didn't overcomplicate things which made it
a lot easier to get the job done tonight."
After the Stars
failed to clear their zone, Nottingham took advantage and opened the
scoring early at 02:17. Tim Doherty picked up a pass from Matt Alfaro in
the slot, and sent the puck over the shoulders of Richard Sabol to make
it 1-0.
A solid forecheck from the Panthers resulted in Matt
Alfaro finding himself alone in front of the Stars net, with the
Canadian beating Sabol to make it 2-0 at 18:23.
The visitors made
it 3-0 just 26 seconds into the second period, with Hugo Roy’s pass
from behind the Stars net finding Didrik Henbrant in the slot who sent a
one timer past Sabol.
Nottingham maintained consistent control
throughout the period, with Dundee’s best chance coming at 25:00 as
Spencer Naas sent a tight angle shot off the rush which was denied by
Jason Grande.
"You've got to keep going, you can never stop and
these two points are crucial in the season," added the Panthers' goalie.
"If you want to stay in the race for the title and send a message to
the league you have to be ready to play every night and I think the boys
did a good job of that tonight"
The Stars did get themselves on
the board early in period three as the Panthers began to tire. Neat
passing saw the puck played into Brett Gravelle in the slot to slide
into a gaping cage with Grande out of position and make it 1-3.
Dundee
got life from the goal and carried the majority of the possession in
the closing 15 minutes. The home side did work a couple of half-decent
chances, but found Grande in fine form in the Panthers net to keep his
team two ahead. With 5:44 to go, Ben O'Connor's objection to a hit on
him saw the Stars defenseman take a late cross-checking minor -
something the Stars didn't need.
Sabol was pulled with 2:08 to go,
and having killed off the penalty the hosts also called a timeout with
71 seconds left. After the Stars felt they were denied a couple of
icings, Otto Nieminen found the empty net with 10 seconds to play to
round off the scoring. Drydn Dow was assesed a minor for sharing his
thoughts on the previous non-calls.