Clan pick up first win of the season in Nottingham
Clan sealed their first victory of the season after coming from behind to secure a hard-fought 3-2 win over Nottingham Panthers.
In a campaign which has been stopstart for so many different reasons, Malcolm Cameron’s side finally got to working their way up the table after seeing off the Panthers for a big away win.
It was a largely tepid first period, although Clan produced some decent chances.
One of which saw Brock Beukeboom beat two players before being denied just at the point where a shot looked on.
But they also looked reasonably solid at the back as Jordan Kelsall’s effort bounced off defenceman Cody Sol, who was flat out on the ice to shut the chance down.
An early effort from Tim Shoup was stopped by Kevin Carr in the second period, but immediately after it was the home side who took the lead.
Panthers moved forward as Matthew Lane fed the puck to Kelsall, who delivered his shot past Shane Starett in Clan’s net for the opening goal.
Tim Wallace’s side upped the ante afterwards as they pushed for a second in an attempt to give themselves a cushion.
They got it on 28 minutes as Jeremy Welsh sent in a shot from the face off circle that left Starrett beaten again.
It looked precarious for the visitors as Nottingham looked to see the game out and put the contest to bed.
However, they didn’t count on Jamie
Crooks squeezing the puck in at Carr’s left side post to claw themselves back into the match.
Whatever the coach said to his players at the last break certainly did the trick as Clan quickly got the score back to even stevens in the third session.
Nolan LaPorte got his first goal of the season in the first minute with a wraparound that made its way through Carr’s legs.
Suddenly it was game on as Clan seemed galvanised from their comeback and as they grew more and more into the game, the travelling suport sensed a winner was coming.
And it was Mathieu Roy, who scored in Belfast a fortnight previous, who struck a crucial winner from the left that looked to go in off a Panthers skate.
The job was done as the Braehead Arena outfit got their first points on the board.
Cameron told Express Sport: “I absolutely hated that middle period. It wasn’t our character and our identity and we didn’t compete. We played soft and didn’t go for loose pucks.
“We’d came out smoking in the first ten minutes and then got out of our element in the last ten and that carried over into the second period.
“I challenged the guys in the second period break and they gave us a hell of a third period, managed the puck well and we knew where our strengths were.
“The third period was our best period of the year, coming off the worst second period of the year in the second.
“We didn’t have any passengers, everybody stuck to it and played hard and it’s encouraged me for the games ahead.”