Nottingham Panthers stayed just four points off league leaders Belfast Giants with a 4-1 win over Manchester Storm in front of 2,169 fans in Altrincham.
It was a scoreless opening period at the Shelter with both teams having powerplay chances to open the scoring. With 3:42 left in the first, the officials went to video review to check Ryan Hughes’ hit along the wall, but only a minor penalty was assessed. The Panthers had the better of the chances, but the 20 minutes finished without a goal.
Period two brought a pair of goals, one for each team. Matt Alfaro’s one-timer beat David Tendeck but bounced into the net off Tim Doherty to put the Panthers ahead 3:45 into the period. The game was levelled by an excellent Gianluca Estevez goal, cutting down the left wing and firing high into Jason Grande’s net at 28:23.
Just under four minutes later, Joe Morrow was ejected from the game for a nasty spear that was confirmed on video review. The Panthers ended the period on top, but couldn’t convert and the score remained 1-1.
An error off the stick of Tendeck led to the Panthers going back ahead. The Storm goalie came out to play the puck, but put it straight on Matt Alvaro’s stick to finish into the gaping cage 2:51 into period three. Mitchell Fossier made it 3-1 just under four minutes later, while he then added his second of the night with a quick shot at 54:33 that found the back of Tendeck’s net.
The win kept the Panthers in the title hunt, while defeat leaves Storm six points off a playoff place with only seven games to go.
Photo: Mark Ferris
