So after taking on the Coventry Blaze on Friday night at the House Of Steel, Steelers have the day off on the Saturday. Then it's back to business again on Sunday afternoon as we make the trip down the M1 to face the Panthers again. This game was supposed to be played on the Saturday but the Lace City venue kindly decided to switch this to accommodate a Mumford and Sons concert. Can we come home with two much needed road points?
Nottingham aren't that bad on home ice are they?
As much it hurts me to say it, then this is a place where getting something out of the Panthers is very hard indeed. Panthers very rarely have off nights in the NIC and that's how much we are against it. It's testament to how well Neilson and Strachan coach the team, and we know we really need to play for 60 minutes (maybe more) to come away with the spoils.
You can't really afford to single out any one player in the Panthers ranks to be honest. Shut down David Clarke, then there's Matt Myers. Close down Evan Mosey, you've got David Ling. They have quality in that roster and we need to go there with no fear and literally take the ice away from them and play like we did for the first 35 minutes last time we were there. Switch off and you will get punished.
By doing the above, you get the home crowd restless and there's nothing worse for a Panthers player to have the crowd on your back. In fact, that could apply everywhere to be honest. Catch them on a off night and dominate the play, that's the recipe for winning.
Have we got it in us to win?
Of course we have, our roster does stack up as good as Nottingham's and it will be interesting to see how Guilluame Desbiens and Marek Pinc deal with their first ever visit to the Lace City. I hope that Desbiens hits everything that moves in a Panthers jersey and Pinc isn't left out to dry by our defence which is still very porous when on the road.
Win every battle on the boards, in the face off dot and defend as if your career depends on it - that would be the message I would be drumming into the players if I was Paul Thompson but then again I'm not. Players like Mosienko, Roy and Fretter will carry the main offensive punch and will be backed up by the line of Nelson - Legue - Dowd which has energy and is as decent as any second line in the Elite League.
What we can't afford to do is to go into our shells collectively and let the Panthers dictate proceedings. Do that, and we could be facing a beating that might be worse than our last visit there. It's time to put the record straight and get a much needed win there which would make everyone's confidence levels go up.
Prediction then?
Can we win? Yes. Will we win? Probably not. That's the task that faces us on Sunday. We will need a strong stripey to deal with the little niggles and that includes keeping a beady eye on Mr Ling who is prone to his little cheap shots from time to time (remember the slash on the back of Freddie Vestberg's legs at the Arena which went unpunished). This means someone like Darnsy or Hicksy even.
Hopefully Panthers will be too exhausted after what might be a bruising encounter in the BBT 24 hours before, but that's just me being pessimistic. Panthers to continue their winning ways I hate to say, I'm going for a 5-2 home win.
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