In Nottingham, Panthers erased their 1st leg deficit and added another to hold the aggregate advantage less than 4 minutes in and despite Flames grabbing the series lead one more time, Panthers eventually delivered a 6-3 Leg 2 win and advancement to the semi final thanks to the 8-6 score across the 2 leg playoff quarter final affair.
Davis Bunz at 1:43 and Mitch Fossier on the powerplay less than 2 minutes later had the Nottingham Panthers in aggregate lead and up a pair on the night; a difference they maintained through the end of the opening set.
Flames reversed the trend near the midway point of the 2nd when back to back powerplay goals by Ethan Strang and Brett Welychka less than 4 minutes apart levelled the evening, but had the visitors back in possession of their initial single goal aggregate edge. However, it went to 5 each on the combined score at 36:07 off the stick of Hugo Roy and Panthers went back in front with Fossier’s 2nd just 44 seconds later.
At 46:48 Fossier completed his Hat Trick with a successful penalty shot which had the hosts ahead 5-2 and 7-5 combined, but a 3rd Flames powerplay goal shortly thereafter from Brett Ferguson pulled his group a goal off the aggregate pace with about 10 minutes to play. With time on short supply, Eamon McAdam took to the bench in favour of an extra attacker, but Matt Spencer sealed up Panthers advancement with an empty netter 15 seconds from the end.
McAdam turned away 25 of 30 shots against Jason Grande who was 36 for 39.
“This was a tough end to a tough season,” explained Head Coach Paul Dixon.
“After a marathon schedule where we were significantly impacted by injuries for most of it, we were relatively healthy at the end of the season here and these guys gave everything they had this weekend to try and advance.”
“It’s unfortunate we were not able to take our Saturday advantage longer into Sunday’ game to be able to pile a bit more pressure on Panthers for a longer stretch early. Saying that, we did get the aggregate lead back, but Panthers wouldn’t be denied tonight and they earned a win and a place next weekend in the last 4.”
“I thought we did everything we could from our perspective, and it just was a goal short without including the empty netter and as hard as it is, we have to accept that the season is done for us and it is time to look ahead to 25-26.”
