EIHL Round up

Nottingham Panthers 4-3 Cardiff Devils (O/T)

Nottingham Panthers wrapped up an crucial weekend in the EIHL with a tough overtime win over the Cardiff Devils at home in the National Ice Centre. The hosts came from behind to win 4-3 with the winner coming from Max Parent.

Saturday's victory over Sheffield meant that the Panthers were right back in the mix for the EIHL title. The 4-1 win over their bitter rivals put Nottingham in fourth place in the league standings, 6 points from the top but with 2 games in hand over the league leaders, Braehead Clan. With Cardiff only a spot above Nottingham thanks to their goal difference tonight's game meant a lot was on the line.

It was the visiting team who jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Mark Richardson and Haddad. But Nottingham battled back through goals from Rob Lachowiz and Evan Mosey before Landry put Nottingham up 3-2.

Cardiff came back to put the game into overtime but failed to capitalize on the momentum gained from the goal. Just over 2 minutes into the added spell Max Parent scored to give make it a 4 point weekend for Nottingham. That win along with other teams around them dropping points puts Nottingham into second place in the league standings.

Coventry Blaze 2-3 Sheffield Steelers

Sheffield bounced back from 4 straight league defeats with a much needed win over an in form Coventry Blaze. Blaze took an early lead but it was Sheffield who would go on and take the 2 points.

Both teams enjoyed spells of pressure early on in the game, but it was Coventry who struck first through a powerplay goal. Mike Egener set up former player-coach, Steven Goertzen, for a shot that was saved by Doyle in the Sheffield goal. The puck took a fortuitous bounce and Ben Arnt scored to put Coventry in the lead.

The Blaze defence seemed to switch off for a moment, which lead to Sheffield tieing the game up. Michaeal Forney had his shot denied but Steelers' leading goal scorer, Mathieu Roy, was there to knock in the rebound.

Sheffield's talisman, Rob Dowd, put Sheffield in the lead with a rather strange and lucky goal.

Hull Stingrays 1-4 Braehead Clan

Braehead continue their fine form with a 4-1 win over Hull, further cementing their place at the top of the table.

The Clan are the only team that remian unbeaten in the EIHL in 2015. Both sides played a strong first period as both goaltenders were regularly put up to the test. However it was Hull that broke the deadlock first, Yan Turcotte put the home side in front after seven minutes, assisted by Cory Tanaka.

Neither side managed to score during the seond but Braehead lost leigh Salters for ten minutes for a major misconduct towards the end of the period. Four minutes into the third and the Clan were back on level terms, thanks to a goal courtesy of Neil Trimm.

All the momentum was in Braehead's favour and they capitalised thanks to a goal from Scott Pitt, his 25^th of the campaign so far.

With four minutes of the game remaing, Braehead jumped out to a goal advantage through a powerplay goal from Stefan Meyer, effectively sealing the 2 points for the league leaders. Pitt then struck again for an empty net goal with just under a minute remaining. That result means that Braehead have now won 7 of their last 10 games.

Dundee Stars 3-2 Belfast Giants (PS)

Belfast Giants have had a major dent put into their hopes of retaining the Elite League title as they lost to Dundee in a shoot-out. The 3-2 defeat means that Nottingham now leapfrog Belfast into second place who are a point ahead of Belfast, Sheffield and Cardiff.

The only positives that can be taken away from this weekend is that they earned a point taking this game into overtime and that they still have 2 games in hand over league leaders, Braehead.

This defeat to Dundee, who lie at the bottom of the league, will leave a bitter taste in the mouth of everyone involved with the Belfast Giants for some time to come. At 1-1 the Giants were denied a go ahead goal and not long after Ray Sawanda was ejected from the game.

The Giants fell behind twice to Dundee, levelling both times, but failed to find a winning goal. Belfast gave up a whopping 8 powerplays in the game and that certainly hindered the reigning champions.

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