Panthers 6, Coventry 2
And Nottingham Panthers can walk down the red carpet with confidence into Sunday’s Elite League Play-off Final against arch-enemies Sheffield Steelers after a 6-2 demolition job on Coventry Blaze at the National Ice Centre.
Even Blaze coach Paul Thompson – who must have regretted his sarcastic jibe at Panthers a thousand times over – was man enough to admit his side was second best in all the areas that counted.
To be frank, they were never given a sniff by a determined Panthers side, brimming with confidence and enterprise that lit up the arena after Cardiff had capitulated so meekly in losing 5-2 to Sheffield earlier on.
Coventry have only been beaten by four goals twice this season . . . and it’s Corey Neilson’s Panthers side that has inflicted the damage on both occasions. Not that he was gloating too much after this one.
A stick in the mouth from Barrie Moore, and a number of stitches to seal the wound suffered with 14 minutes gone, kept him away from the after-match press conference.
But his players did the talking for him on the ice. As captain Danny Meyers said, they were “just relentless”, epitomised by a thunderous check from defenceman Nick Toneys that set the tone.
Even when Coventry had nearly two minutes of 5-on-3 power-play with the sides scoreless, Panthers still manufactured the best chance, with Matthew Myers firing wide on a lightning break.
With referee Moray Hanson clamping down, it was then Coventry’s turn to have two men in the sin-bin and just as Jonathan Weaver jumped back on to the ice, man of the match Bruce Richardson was on the spot in front of the net to score from Jade Galbraith’s neat pass (8.19).
Coventry were being dominated all over the ice and before 14 minutes had gone, it was 3-0 with Brendan Cook powering home (11.14) before Neilson wristed a third after a patient power-play (13.51).
That brought an instant time-out from Thompson in a bid to halt the Panthers surge and hopefully spur his beleaguered players.
In the 15th minute, Neilson was rammed on the boards by Moore and left the ice for repairs to his gashed mouth and while he was still absent, Blaze pulled one back (19.37) when Danny Stewart tipped in at the near post from Leigh Jamieson.
With Neilson back at the start of the second period, it was Coventry who were first to show with goalie Michel Robinson denying Stewart.
Panthers, though, just carried on pulling the Blaze defence apart and they scored a fourth (27.53) as Neilson’s shot ricocheted of netminder JF Perras and then off David Clarke and in.
Enforcer Carlyle Lewis – who normally seeks out Neilson -- tried to stir up something but only succeeded in finding the penalty box when he punched Meyers in the face. And he paid for his indiscipline with another goal from Richardson to make it 5-1.
Coventry had the temerity to get a second, against the run of play, when Moore floated one past the unsighted Robinson (30.39).
There was a fine glove save from Robinson at the start of the third and if that had gone in, things may have got interesting..
But as it was, Panthers had the final say when Bergin ripped the puck clear on the boards, and skated in to drill a forehand into the top corner (44.20).
Neilson almost added another as Perras was left stranded when he charged aimlessly out of goal, but a Magnificent Seven might have been taking the Team Hollywood analogy too far!
See Monday’s Evening Post for pictures, comment and report on Sunday’s Panthers v Sheffield Play-off Final.
MATCH FACTS
COVENTRY 2, PANTHERS 6
(1-3, 1-2, 0-1)
Clarke 1+3; Galbraith 0+4; B Richardson 2+0; Neilson 1+1; Cook, Bergin 1+0; Meyers, Tessier 0+1.
Shots on goal: Blaze 27, Panthers 29 (8/12, 8/13, 11/4)
Penalty minutes: Blaze 18, Panthers 16 (10/8, 6/4, 2/4)
Panthers man of the match: Bruce Richardson
Referee: Moray Hanson
Attendance: 7,000 (est)
Comment on this story