Panthers draw first blood but Devils are on top in Cardiff

NOTTINGHAM Panthers were beaten 6-2 by Cardiff Devils at the Vindico Arena in the Elite League on Saturday night.

Panthers welcomed back Westin Michaud after injury but Stephen Anderson, Ollie Betteridge and Logan Neilson were missing from the line-up.

Rok Stojanovic started between the pipes with Luca Sheldon as back-up.

Didrik Henbrant had a chance inside the first 10 seconds before Panthers took the lead when Otto Nieminen skated into the offensive zone, cut inside from the right and put away his own rebound (3:12).

Cody Donaghey’s one-timer from the left circle on the powerplay equalised for the hosts (5:15) and moments later, Stojanovic made a great save to deny Cole Sanford.

Devils took a two-goal lead at the end of the first period as Evan Mosey fed Josh Batch in the slot (10:48) and Joey Martin rounded Stojanovic with a neat move (12:31).

Bode Wilde’s shot was tipped in by Jamie Arniel on the powerplay as Cardiff scored early in the second session (22:23) and Martin grabbed his second of the night when he redirected a pass from Donaghey from right point (27:40).

At the other end, Hugo Roy hit the bar and shot just wide, while Henbrant and Alexander Lunsjö both also went close.

With the period drawing to a close, Jordan Kelsall dropped the gloves and went toe-to-toe with Devils defenceman Marcus Crawford.

Panthers made a strong start to the third period and Roy set up Mathieu Lemay to score a one-timer on one knee in the left-circle on the powerplay (42:13).

Trevor Cox fed Martin in the slot to complete his hat-trick (50:24) before a line brawl saw a feisty end to the game, with both Henbrant and Josh Tetlow dropping the gloves.

The Panthers’ game against Glasgow Clan finished after the Post’s deadline last night.