All eyes were on new signing David Tendeck who made his club debut between the pipes for the Storm. A fast, furious and physical opening ten minutes saw chances at both ends of the ice with Tendeck being the busier of the two netminders. It was the Panthers who struck first, at the midpoint of the first, as Henbrant buried a rebound off the body of Tendeck following an offensive face off. Their lead was doubled just seventeen seconds later when Doherty received a pin point pass courtesy of Henbrant, from behind the goal line, which was quickly put in to the back of the net. Despite some good play and looks on goal the Storm headed in to the first intermission down by two.

A somewhat calmer start to the second period saw both teams settle in to the game more. The Panthers eventually added a third goal with three minutes left in the period – a soft turnover in Storm’s defensive zone saw Henbrant score his second of the night assisted by Alfaro and Doherty’s nice passing play. Another quick turnaround saw the visitors add a fourth, this time scored by Niskala as a screen in front of Tendeck left him unsighted and unable to stop the shot from long range. Despite offensive opportunities throughout the period the Storm’s lack of shots on goal proved costly as the Panthers took a big lead in to the break.

Tendeck was called in to action early on in the final twenty making some outstanding saves to deny the Panther’s forwards. A long five on three powerplay for the visitors was superbly shut down by the Storm’s penalty kill, at the midpoint, which seemed to spark the team back up a gear, however the Panthers defensive ranks held strong time after time to deny any kind of come back. A couple of late powerplay opportunities proved fruitless for the Storm as time eventually expired with the Panthers taking a 4-0 win and 2 points back home to Nottingham.

Kristian Stokwisz