Nelson scores but no joy in Nottingham

Welcome to the match report from last night's game in Nottingham.

After winning their last two games, Steelers made the short trip down the M1 to face old foes Nottingham Panthers in the NIC. Panthers had suffered a rare home loss in their last home game against Fife Flyers; but always seem to be up for these games nowadays: a trait that Steelers seem to sometimes lack. The team news for the Steelers saw one change from the side that won 7-2 at Dundee Stars on Wednesday night, Joonas Ronnberg back in the side as temporary injury cover for Zack Fitzgerald which meant Brady Ramsay had to sit as part of the six game suspension the team are serving for Andre Deveaux's misdemeanours. Panthers had no such worries, and gave Patrick Galbraith the start in between the pipes with Sam Gospel backing him up.

Nottingham were immediately on the front foot and forced Ervins Mustukovs into a series of early saves. Thankfully for the Steelers nobody was able to capitalise on them and the team then started to grow a bit more into the game. As they did, both Matt Marquardt and Liam Kirk went close to opening the Steelers account. With just over six minutes left in the period, Levi Nelson was called by referee Michael Hicks for a charging minor which infuriated Corey Neilson so much that he got the team a bench minor for his protestations. Neither team could convert whilst playing 4 on 4; but six seconds after the penalties someone did and that proved to be Nelson. Coming out of the box, the Canadian winger latched onto a Ben O'Connor pass and sent it into the roof of Galbraith's net for his 11th of the season and 4th in as many games.

Buoyed by this, Steelers pushed for a second before the end of the period and it took some last gasp defensive work to deny them it. Panthers had outshot the Steelers 13-6 in that opening twenty and continued in that same positive mood in the second. This could only mean an equaliser was imminent and sure enough it arrived at 24:12, Brett Perlini scoring his 12th of the season following good work by Yann Sauvé and Jeff Brown. It also sent the bears flying as it was the Panthers "Air The Bear" night. Both netminders were playing well, and because of this the second period ended level at 1-1 which meant it was all to play for in the final twenty.

An early goal in the final period would give whoever scored it a massive lift in the contest, and for the majority of the sell out crowd: they were the ones who celebrated a second goal less than four minutes in. Former Minnesota Wild draft pick Raphael Bussieres scoring only his second goal of the season past Mustukovs after Steelers had initially turned the puck over. The Steelers pushed for a leveller but Galbraith (still I maintain it sounds Scottish rather than Danish) shut the door on them whenever they threatened. Panthers went 3-1 ahead with just over eight minutes left however and it was all down to some sublime skill by another former Wild draft pick in Zack Phillips. The 28th pick in 2011's draft made Mark Matheson look ridiculously ordinary with a great piece of individual work before setting up an unmarked Bussieres at the far post for a simple finish.

Panthers were immaculate on their penalty kill, and in Galbraith they have a quality netminder. Every time he was forced to answer the bell when Steelers pushed forward on goal; he was standing tall and none more in the final two minutes. With his opposing number Mustukovs sacrificed for an extra skater, Steelers were awarded a penalty shot by Hicks when a stray Panthers stick was launched at the puck. Nelson took it, looking for his second of the night, only to be denied by the Dane sticking out a pad. Then came the clincher, Mustukovs still sacrificed, and last season's pantomime villain Jeff Brown found the unguarded cage with 97 seconds left to play and make the score 4-1. Yet Galbraith continued to make saves right up to the very end, Davey Phillips being one of those thwarted. So a 4-1 loss it was, which meant yet another Conference loss for the Steelers and a response again needed in today's (Sunday) home game against a tricky Milton Keynes side.

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Panthers 4 Steelers 1

Steelers Scoring:  Nelson 1+0, O'Connor 0+1.

Panthers Scoring: Bussieres 2+0, Perlini 1+1, Brown 1+1, Sauve 0+2, Phillips 0+2, Derlago 0+1, Mokshantsev 0+1.

Shots On Goal:  Panthers 35 Steelers 27

Powerplay: Steelers 0 from 6(0% conversion), Panthers 1 from 3 (33% conversion)

Penalty Minutes called: Panthers 18 Steelers 12

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 31 Saves (544), GAA: 3.02 (2.44), Save Percentage 91.20% (91.60%)

Man of the Match: Robert Dowd (Steelers), Brett Perlini (Panthers)

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