Cardiff Devils 5-5 Nottingham Panthers (Challenge Cup Semi Final 1st Leg) 22.01.20

Nottingham Panthers will go into their Challenge Cup Semi Final second leg with Cardiff Devils all square next Wednesday after a thrilling night of ice hockey in Wales ended with a 5-5 score draw.

Haddad put the hosts in the lead during a first period powerplay but Ollie Betteridge levelled in the second and Jake Hansen put Nottingham in the lead. Things got even better for the Panthers when Brett Perlini netted his 13^th of the season to put the away side 3-1 going into the third and final period.

That was where the fun started though as anyone expecting the Panthers to see the game out had another thing coming. Marjamaki pulled one back little after a minute in and Martin made use of the powerplay to level things up. Betteridge then got his second of the night after good work by Connolly as Nottingham regained advantage but the match swayed back as first Riley, then Pope put the Welshmen in front which looked to have given the Devils a one goal lead going into the second leg.

Julian Talbot however had other ideas with just a minute and six seconds on the clock levelling up the tie with his tenth goal of the season setting up what looks to be a magnificent night of hockey ahead in Nottingham next Wednesday.

After the match Coach Tim Wallace stated “We played pretty solid, we had a few breakdowns in the third when they had a little bit of  momentum but for the most part I think we played really good” Wallace continued “I guess we’ll take it, going back home zero-zero, we want to win every game and felt like we should have came away with it but it’s a six period contest and now we play our game at home and hopefully get the job done and move on to the finals”.

*Main image @PanthersIHC the Nottingham players celebrate another goal on an action packed night in Wales.