Match Report: 20.3.2015 - Panthers v Steelers EC/EIHL

Friday 20^th March 2015 – Nottingham Panthers (29-15-6) v Sheffield Steelers (33-13-4) @ National Ice Centre. Face-off: 7:30pm, Erhardt Conference/Elite League

Nottingham Panthers – 3
Sam Oakford – 1^st
Greg Jacina – 2^nd
Brandon Benedict – 3^rd PP

Sheffield Steelers – 4
Michael Forney – 2^nd
Ben O’Connor – 2^nd SH
Mathieu Roy (2) – 3^rd, OT PP

Final league meeting between the Panthers and the Steelers for the season and it was in Nottingham where Sheffield had won their two previous visits but could they make it three in a row. Nottingham drew first blood at 8:18 when Sam Oakford had the puck on the blue line and he fired his shot which I think was tipped by Doucet as the puck took a strange deflection to beat Unice but Oakford was announced as the goal scorer and Steelers had to come back from a goal down. Steelers massively outshot their hosts and Mattias Modig was in just outstanding form and was the reason Nottingham went into the 1^st break a goal up.

End of the 1st Period: Nottingham Panthers 1–0 Sheffield Steelers

Shots on Goal: Panthers 8-16 Steelers

Into the second period and we was going to have two minutes off 4v4 and Darrell Hay had a chance to level the game but his shot came back off the post before Nottingham broke 1v1 and it was Greg Jacina at 21:28 who fired a shot low and hard past Unice from in between the circles as there wasn’t really anything Sarich could have done to prevent him. Sheffield finally found a way past Modig at 24:09 when Fretter played a cross ice pass to Forney who took a touch off his skate and fired his wrist shot past the glove of Modig for 2-1. Sheffield levelled the game at 32:05 while shorthanded a poor turnover by Cody Wild allowed Tyler Mosienko to pick up the puck who played Ben O’Connor who was on the breakaway and he fired wrist shot straight through Modig to send the visiting fans wild and that’s how it stayed going into the 2^nd interval.
End of the 2nd Period: Nottingham Panthers 2–2 Sheffield Steelers

Shots on Goal: Panthers 7–10 Steelers

Big third period and both teams gave as good as they got Nottingham took their second lead of the game at 52:50 while on the man advantage Benedict was at the back door to Unice’s left and managed to get his shot past Unice and Nottingham led 3-2 it was slightly controversial when at the other Mosienko took a big check from behind and the officials just ignored it for some strange reason. Sheffield levelled the game at 57:32 and it was that guy Mathieu Roy, Forney was at the left circle and Modig made the save and Roy fired the rebound into the open goal to send the visiting fans wild and we had 3-3 score line going into overtime.
End of the 3rd Period: Nottingham Panthers 3-3 Sheffield Steelers
Shots on Goal: Panthers 11–6 Steelers


Into overtime and both Modig and Unice had big saves to make but with 28 seconds left Evan Mosey was called for tripping and Sheffield took their timeout and got to work and it was Modig had a save to make from O’Connor and Roy was stood in front and he managed to shoot the rebound under Modig to win Steelers the game 4-3 at 64:47 to leave them top of the league knowing that a win vs Cardiff 24 hours later will secure the league title.
Shots on Goal: Panthers 4-4 Steelers

FINAL SCORE: Nottingham Panthers 3–4 Sheffield Steelers OT

Boxscore (1st-2nd-3rd-OT-[PIM]-{PP}-S)

Nottingham  - 1-1-1-0-[10]-{1/3}-30

Sheffield        - 0-2-1-1-[10]-{1/3}-36

Nottingham Man of the Match: #7 Robert Lachowicz
Sheffield Man of the Match: #21 Tyler Mosienko

Nottingham Points Round Up: - 7 Points
Brandon Benedict (1+1), Sam Oakford (1+0), Greg Jacina (1+0), Guillaume Doucet (0+1), Cody Wild (0+1), Chris Higgins (0+1)

Sheffield Points Round Up: -11  Points

Michael Forney (1+1), Mathieu Roy (2+1), Tyler Mosienko (0+2), Colton Fretter (0+2), Ben O’Connor (1+1)

Referee: #9 Tom Darnell

Referee: #27 Mike Hicks

Linesman: #22 Paul Staniforth

Linesman: #38 Danny Beresford

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