Nottingham Panthers 5-0 Excel Hull Stingrays
The Excel Hull Stingrays were shut out for the first time of the year tonight at the Trent FM Arena in Nottingham, losing out by five goals to nil to Corey Neilson's big spenders in both league and Challenge Cup play.
Lee Esders returned to action for the Rays after a knee injury but that was not enough to buck worrying trend of conceding first and early, as David Alexandre Beauregard netted little over three minutes in for the only goal of the first period as the home side outshot the Rays 16-7.
Despite resisting much of what the Panthers had to throw at them in the first, the second period once again proved the Rays biggest stumbling block as Jonathan Zion, David Clarke and Robert Lachowicz all scored to extend the Panthers lead to four.
Undoubtedly the biggest moment of the second period came after 12 minutes when Jason Silverthorn was caught with his head down by Guillaume Lepine, the man who left the Rays without playing a game following the club's financial troubles, and he levelled the in form Stingrays forward leaving him flat out on the ice.
Silverthorn left the game and Lepine went on to fight Rays D man Jozef Sladok for his actions. However, there may be future repercussions for the Panthers player, who has previous with the league disciplinary committee having been banned for a similar hit on Sheffield's Rob Globke earlier in the season.
As they did against Cardiff on Saturday, the Rays picked it up in the third, out chancing the Panthers and outshoting them 12-4. But despite pushing forward for a consolation goal it was the Panthers Billy Ryan who would net the final goal of the game with the buzzer sounding at 5-0.
Having witnessed another disheartening performance from his side, in which they conceded five without reply, coach Cloutier will undoubtedly want to change things up sooner rather than later in order to stop the rot.
With Tendler, Uusivirta and Silverthorn scoring, and other forwards performing well despite being down on numbers, the blueline would appear the number one target for the coach, particularly after he benched Latvian Kris Grundmanis for the majority of Sunday's Cardiff game. However, he may yet wait for his side to return to full strength before making changes to his roster.
This weekend the Rays face Sheffield at the Hull Arena on Saturday before travelling to Dundee in the league on Sunday in a must win game against the bottom side.
