Nottingham Panthers 5-1 Manchester Storm (Elite League) 04.12.19

Nottingham Panthers returned to victory in emphatic style last night after losing at the weekend against top of the table Sheffield where they returned to winning ways at the Motorpoint Arena with a 5-1 demolition of Manchester Storm.

Ryan Horvat made his Panthers debut but it was the Storm quickest out of the blocks attacking from the start as Nottingham Netminder Kevin Carr was called in to early action keeping Aulin out before Malmquist tested Manchester stopper Ginn with Deutsch forcing a glove save from the Canadian as the Panthers aimed to take the lead.

That lead came on 17.20 when Brett Perlini netted his 11^th of the campaign knocking in a rebound and minutes into the second period Panthers doubled up when Gui Lepine slashed past Ginn for number two.

Matheson made it 3-0 and their was debut celebration just 13 seconds into the third period when Ryan Horvat swept into the cage after good work from Lachowicz.

Fawcett pulled one back during a powerplay for Storm but Matheson got his second of the night after Horvat’s tip was saved following up brilliantly to round off a night in style.

Nottingham now up to fifth six points above Storm who are a place outside the playoff zone in eighth.

After the game forward Jake Hansen stated “I think we played 60 minutes of good hockey” stating “Manchester are a tough team to play and played hard, but we played good, we created a ton of chances, we dominated the play pretty much the whole game and it was probably the most complete game we’ve played”.

The Panthers next face Coventry away in Elite League action on Saturday evening before taking on Guildford Flames on Sunday at the Motorpoint Arena.

*Main image @OfficialEIHL Brett Perlini gets the first goal of the night v Storm.