Nottingham Panthers 8-4 Hull Stingrays
The Hull Stingrays tonight lead the league leading Nottingham Panthers 3-1 after 30 minutes but imploded in the second half of the fixture, allowing the Panthers to take control of the fixture at the National Ice Centre with seven consecutive goals, eventually losing out 8-4 to their Erhardt Conference opponents.
Without a fixture on Saturday night, the Stingrays had hoped to emulate the upsets by Edinburgh and Fife - who beat Sheffield 2-1 and Belfast 4-1 respectively 24 hours earlier - but quickly found themselves down by a goal.
It took just 29 seconds for the Rays - who had lost three consecutive Gardiner Conference fixtures in the run up to the game - to trail thanks to a goal from defenceman Jason Beckett.
They quickly rebounded though, leveling through Brit Tom Squires' third goal of the season before seizing the initiative with adding goals from Matty Davies and Sylvain Cloutier - who netted his 100th goal in the Elite League with Sam Towner bagging his first ever professional assist on the goal - to lead 3-1.
Cloutier's side lead 3-1 until 31.56 when Jonathan Weaver pulled a goal back on the powerplay before Bruce Graham equalised less than a minute later. The Panthers then lead with just 57 seconds left in the middle period, David Ling giving the home side a 4-3 lead having outshot the Rays 16-4.
Corey Neilson's side - who have recently lost NHLer Anthony Stewart, who has returned to North America - showed their class in the final period firing 25 shots on Ben Bowns in the Ray net for a total of 55, while extending their lead to 8-3 through Graham (PP), Brandon Benedict (PP), Matthew Myers and Pat Galivan.
Janis Ozolins added a last minute consolation fourth goal for the Stingrays past back up netminder Dan Green - who replaced Craig Kowalski with eight minutes to go - but the Panthers comfortably sealed two points thanks to seven goals in less than 30 minutes of play.
The Hull Stingrays tonight lead the league leading Nottingham Panthers 3-1 after 30 minutes but imploded in the second half of the fixture, allowing the Panthers to take control of the fixture at the National Ice Centre with seven consecutive goals, eventually losing out 8-4 to their Erhardt Conference opponents.
Without a fixture on Saturday night, the Stingrays had hoped to emulate the upsets by Edinburgh and Fife - who beat Sheffield 2-1 and Belfast 4-1 respectively 24 hours earlier - but quickly found themselves down by a goal.
It took just 29 seconds for the Rays - who had lost three consecutive Gardiner Conference fixtures in the run up to the game - to trail thanks to a goal from defenceman Jason Beckett.
They quickly rebounded though, leveling through Brit Tom Squires' third goal of the season before seizing the initiative with adding goals from Matty Davies and Sylvain Cloutier - who netted his 100th goal in the Elite League with Sam Towner bagging his first ever professional assist on the goal - to lead 3-1.
Cloutier's side lead 3-1 until 31.56 when Jonathan Weaver pulled a goal back on the powerplay before Bruce Graham equalised less than a minute later. The Panthers then lead with just 57 seconds left in the middle period, David Ling giving the home side a 4-3 lead having outshot the Rays 16-4.
Corey Neilson's side - who have recently lost NHLer Anthony Stewart, who has returned to North America - showed their class in the final period firing 25 shots on Ben Bowns in the Ray net for a total of 55, while extending their lead to 8-3 through Graham (PP), Brandon Benedict (PP), Matthew Myers and Pat Galivan.
Janis Ozolins added a last minute consolation fourth goal for the Stingrays past back up netminder Dan Green - who replaced Craig Kowalski with eight minutes to go - but the Panthers comfortably sealed two points thanks to seven goals in less than 30 minutes of play.
