The Genting Casino Coventry Blaze were beaten 4-1 by the Nottingham Panthers in a pre-season contest at Motorpoint Arena on Saturday.
Blaze travelled to Nottingham with captain Kim Tallberg back in the line-up following his return from a summer stint in Australia earlier this week. Ukrainian forward Artie Buzoverya remained sidelined, while Mat Robson got the nod in goal.
The Panthers were also missing key import forwards Matt Alfaro and Mitch Fossier, but Nolan Volcan stepped in to make his home debut. Jason Grande started between the pipes.
Nottingham came out flying, with the trio of Tim Doherty, Chase Pearson, and Matt Marinew causing problems early. Their pressure paid off when Marinew buried the opener at 3.55, assisted by both line-mates.
The Blaze settled into the game and carved out quality chances through Matthew Gleason and Elijiah Barriga.
Their persistence was rewarded when former Panther and current Blaze defenceman Archie Hazeldine picked out Alessio Luciani with a clever slap-pass, and the dangerous forward finished clinically to tie things up 1-1 at 15.09.
Both sides had an early powerplay chance in the middle frame, but Robson and Grande stood tall in their respective nets to keep things level.
At 34.13, the Panthers regained the lead when Ross Armour’s clever drop-pass set up offensive defenceman David Noël, who made no mistake in firing home for 2–1.
Coventry almost hit back immediately, with Hazeldine once again at the heart of the play. His creativity opened the door, but a desperate defensive scramble saw Nottingham bodies throwing themselves in front of shots to preserve their advantage.
The home side then stretched their lead late in the period. With just 1.07 remaining, Zsombor Garat rifled the puck past Robson, assisted by Marcinew and Volcan, to give the Panthers a 3-1 cushion heading into the break.
With 12.25 left to play, Grande was called into action to deny British forward Mack Stewart, but it proved to be Coventry’s best opportunity to claw their way back into the contest.
The Panthers sealed the result late on, as Ollie Betteridge picked up the puck off the boards, drove to the net, and finished neatly on the backhand past Robson with 3.19 remaining. Volcan registered his second assist of the night on the play, confirming a 4-1 final score in Nottingham’s favour.
Photo credit: Panthers Images
