Nottingham Panthers vs Glasgow Clan

The Premier Sports sponsored Glasgow Clan were bettered by a strong performance from the league leaders the Nottingham Panthers as they start off the weekend with a forgettable road defeat.

The league leaders started the game strong with heavy offensive pressure and Tim Doherty rifling off a shot on net in the opening minute to bring Sami Aittokallio into the game instantly.

Cade Neilson and Richard Jarusek resorted to laying the body to cut off Nottingham’s offensive prowess as they both made big hits in the corner to gain possession for Glasgow in the first few minutes of the game.

Jarusek’s puck-winning hit in the Panthers’ zone was followed up by a neat pass to Felix Pare who tapped the puck into the path of Brett Neumann who then slammed a shot straight into the roof of the net to beautifully give Glasgow the first lead of the game.

Deven Sideroff nearly supplied a second goal for the Clan as he burst up the right wing before sliding the puck to the backdoor where the finishing touch of Brayden Burke was just inches away from pushing it over the line.

Didrik Henbrant then gave up a golden opportunity when he used his pace to charge up ice on a breakaway off the back of a faceoff in their own zone and his initial shot was saved but the rebound fell back to his tape with a gaping net in front of him, but the Swede’s shot dragged wide of the net.

Panthers’ netminder, Kevin Carr then pulled off a great save with a stroke of luck after his defenceman, Matt Spencer collided with him while trying to block a shot and Carr fell into the path of Sideroff’s shot and kept it out.

Lucas Brine was then brought into the game to start second period in place of Aittokallio, and the young Brit was welcomed into the game by Matt Alfaro who finished off a backdoor pop up with a goal 60 seconds after the restart.

Chase Pearson then put Nottingham in front just before the half-way mark as a strong penalty kill put Glasgow back to full strength just a few seconds before Pearson received a pass just in front of net and sent a go-ahead goal past Brine.

Jordan Kelsall then played a stretch pass to allow Henbrant on a second breakaway of the game and this time the #98 made no mistake in doubling the hosts’ lead just a 58 seconds after they gained it.

Steven Seigo and his teammates were then left bemused when he was called for a slashing penalty on an uneventful play later in the period.

As the story tends to go in hockey, Nottingham broke Glasgow’s special team streak and scored on the resulting powerplay through Ross Armour who continues his recent good form in front of net with a first time finish at the backdoor.

In the third period, Henbrant grabbed his second goal of the game and Nottingham’s fifth with a hard shot from the left wing which creeped through Brine’s pads and rolled over the line on the fresh sheet of ice.

Matthew Marcinew then made it six for the Panthers with a quick shot out front off a feed from behind the net by Pearson as the Clan started to show holes in their defence.

Henbrant was denied a chance to seal his hattrick as he took a penalty for high sticks in the final two minutes, but there were still late celebrations as Brendan Harris scored shorthanded to make it 7-1 to the Nottingham Panthers.

Glasgow now need to regroup on the long journey back with a home fixture against the Belfast Giants coming up tomorrow night at Braehead.