Otto hits treble but Stars win

OTTO Nieminen scored a hat-trick but Nottingham Panthers were beaten 7-4 at Dundee Stars in the Elite League on Friday night.

Panthers were without the injured trio of Mike Caruso, Carl Neill and Logan Neilson. Rok Stojanovic got the start in goal with Luca Sheldon as back-up.

Panthers had all the early pressure as Nieminen saw a shot saved and Hugo Roy hit the pipes inside the first minute.

At the other end, Stojanovic made good saves to deny Elijah Vilio and Xavier Poulio but could do nothing to stop Brent Beaudoin’s shot which went in off the post during a spell of four-on-four (11:33)

Mathieu Lemay and Alexander Lunsjö combined to set up Nieminen with the redirect as Panthers levelled.

Didrik Henbrant did well to keep the puck in the zone and Nieminen reacted first in the right-circle to score his second of the night (17:22) but Vilio fed Jake Elmer to equalise (19:11).

Joe Hazeldine and Stephen Anderson had chances for the Panthers in the opening stages of the second period before the game burst back into life with two goals in 57 seconds.

Westin Michaud provided the feed for Anthony Luciani to score in the slot (33:22) but Dundee forced a turnover and Anthony Rinaldi used his speed to beat the Panthers defence and fire past Stojanovic (34:19).

Panthers went ahead again with only two seconds of the period remaining as Nieminen completed his treble when he tipped in Henbrant’s shot (39:58).

Stars scored three times in under three minutes to take control of the game, beginning when Josh Brittain buried the puck past Stojanovic from the slot on the powerplay (43:41).

Ryan Valentini netted from close range (45:43) before a broken play saw James Phelan score at the back door (46:37).

After a turnover, Dow drove the net and sealed the game as he fired past Stojanovic (57:45).