Panthers fail to rise to the occasion as Steelers nick it

THERE were tears on and off the ice as Nottingham Panthers' play-off dream ended in abject disappointment at the National Ice Centre last night.

Once again, bitter rivals Sheffield Steelers found what it takes to win the big games as they retained their Elite League Play-Off trophy with a 2-0 scoreline in a final that failed to hit the heights.

Sheffield had hardly shone in beating a lacklustre Cardiff side 5-2 in Saturday's first semi-final.

So last night's disappointment was perhaps made even worse because of the anticipation of a Panthers power-show, following their 6-2 thrashing of Coventry Blaze in their semi-final 24-hours earlier.

A rare goal from defenceman Steve Munn (14.50) – which I'm told looked offside by fans better placed than me – gave Steelers a first period lead and something to defend.

And Ryan Finnerty made sure with the second, four minutes into the third period, squeezing the puck home at the near post via Michel Robinson's shoulder.

As teams have discovered previously, the key to unlocking Sheffield is to score early and force them out of their defensive shells.

But when they have a rock solid defence with goalie Jody Lehman in such good form, and riding his luck, too, the longer the games goes on the more the opposition takes chances.

But Panthers' power-play failed to click and when they were looking for something special or just a slice of luck to turn the game their way, they were found wanting.

Sheffield ground out the league title playing exactly the same way and give them and coach Dave Matsos due credit for that.

But lining up the defence on the blueline is certainly not something I'd like to watch every week.

It gets the job done, though, as we saw against a previously explosive Panthers side that struggled to get their usual flowing game together.

Pointedly, Panthers enjoyed their best spells just before Steelers scored each of their goals.

Dan Tessier – playing his last game as a pro before joining the Canadian police – fluffed his shot on the power-play when the net was gaping.

And when Steelers came back to full strength, Munn skated down the middle to drill in the opening goal.

Although failing to make their power-plays tell in the first, Panthers still looked the more dangerous in the second period, with Cook, Johan Molin and Dan Tessier having decent chances. And at the start of the third period, Panthers piled on the pressure with man of the match Brendan Cook twice being denied by Lehman.

But Sheffield broke clear and when Panthers failed to get the puck away, Finnerty was allowed too much time to flip it past Robinson.

A reckless slash by Brad Cruikshank with just over six minutes left gave Panthers another power-play chance which they again squandered.

And when player-coach Corey Neilson was sin-binned for hooking in the last two minutes after he fanned on a shot, it called for desperate measures, literally.

Bench coach Adam Goodridge is still convinced Lehman's stick was illegal after he called for referee Moray Hanson to check its dimensions.

Instead of having to kill a penalty, it would have been four-on-four had the stick been found to have been too wide and Lehman penalised.

Then Goodridge would have called Lehman's replacement stick as well to hopefully put Panthers on a last-gasp power-play.

But Hanson clearly thought otherwise, Panthers were penalised for delay of game and that was it.

It's just a pity that, at the final hooter, Lehman saw fit to rush over to taunt the Panthers fans rather than celebrate with the Steelers faithful.

But Sheffield never have been magnanimous in victory – despite them having plenty of practice... unfortunately.

Panthers v Coventry semi-final report at www.thisispanthers.co.uk