Time for our match report from last night's game in Nottingham against the Panthers.
Both teams headed into this game having suffered exits from the Challenge Cup in midweek at the semi-final stage, and were looking to bounce straight back. Panthers had exited to Belfast through late goals for the Northern Irish side when Corey Neilson's men had got within one goal on aggregate; whilst Steelers had spectacularly imploded in Cardiff. Team news saw Steelers as they were in Cardiff, with Swedish forward Andreas Jรคmtin completing his two game suspension. Panthers were still without GB internationalist Evan Mosey and defenceman Dan Spang but gave a home debut to new signing Mike Vaskiuvo.
Both sides started out with chances, Panthers ringing the pipework and Steelers forcing a series of saves from Michael Garnett who was once more given the start in goal against the Steelers despite having a below average performance seven days ago in the Fly DSA Arena. A shot at redemption for the former 24 game NHLer perhaps? However, the biggest talking point of that opening period came with 4:35 left when Panthers captain Stephen Lee was ejected on a 5+Game for boarding Steelers' Zack Fitzgerald. Fitzy would not play any further part in the game and now faces a spell on the sidelines following on from it. With Luke Pither picking up a hooking minor in the closing stages of this period, Steelers started the middle one with a 5 on 3 but the scores remained goalless.
16 seconds of this middle period had elapsed when Steelers made the advantage count and opened the scoring, Jonas Westerling continuing his recent good form with his 6th of the season after a shot had favourably landed into his path. It was also Jonas' third goal in as many games. Both teams had chances after that and Steelers were indebted to netminder Ervins Mustukovs who was once more intent on denying the Panthers a sniff. The game had another flashpoint as the period ended, a spot of jostling resulted in Eric Neiley and Panthers' Jeff Brown dropping the gloves for a decent tilt. Steelers were by this time already nearly halfway through another powerplay as Tim Billingsley was in the box serving a cross checking minor.
The next goal would be oh so important, and it was the Steelers who netted it to give themselves a two goal lead. With just 5 seconds of the Billingsley penalty left, Westerling was there again to for his second of the game and 7th of the season after Mathieu Roy and Mark Matheson had created the opportunity. A third goal followed at 45:20, again good play by the Steelers saw Matt Marquardt and Roy create the chance, another rebound, and guess who was there to pick the pieces? Yup, Jonas Westerling! The Swede completing a natural hat-trick and the first of his long career for his 8th of the season. Panthers had to push on now and thought they reduced the arrears but Tom Pering waved it off, adjudging the puck had been gloved into the net. Mustukovs was still being imperious every time the Panthers tested him, whilst Garnett at the other end was keeping the score down with a series of saves.
Yet with about 3 and a half minutes left, Corey Neilson seriously gambled by removing Garnett for an extra attacker. A ballsy move by the Panthers coach considering how long was left in the game at the time. It would either pay off or backfire spectacularly, alas for the Panthers this proved to be the latter as the Steelers scored a fourth on the night when Davey Phillips found Andreas Valdix in space and he fired bar down and into the vacant cage at 56:55 for his 12th of the season. Mustukovs continued to shut the door and Steelers ended up coming away 4-0 winners, with the Latvian being the first Steelers netminder to record back-to-back shutouts in Nottingham. It was also his third shutout over the same opponents this season and 8th of the season - only two behind his own Elite League regular season record.
Time for the statistics:
Goals: Panthers 0 Steelers 4
Steelers Scoring: Westerling 3+0, Roy 0+2, Matheson 0+2, Valdix 1+0, Marquardt 0+1, D.Phillips 0+1.
Panthers Scoring: Nobody!
Shots On Goal: Steelers 28 Panthers 30
Powerplay: Steelers 2 from 6 (33% conversion), Panthers 0 from 5 (0% conversion)
Penalty Minutes called: Steelers 15 Panthers 40
Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 30 Saves (1049), GAA: 0.00 (2.33), Save Percentage: 100.00% (91.90%).
Man of the Match: Jonas Westerling (Steelers), Mathieu Gagnon (Panthers)
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