Two goals from Brandon McNally lead the way to a 4-2 victory on Sunday in Nottingham.
Two goals from Brandon McNally lead the way to a 4-2 victory on Sunday in Nottingham.
It was the first game with fans in Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena in 18 months, and the hometown Panthers came out flying in front of a boisterous home crowd.
Despite some early chances, it was the Devils Brodie Reid who opened the scoring just 4:02 into the game with Josh Waller picking up the lone assist. The two teams traded scoring opportunities, but it was the netminders at both ends of the ice that continued to frustrate the opposing forwards and the first period ended with the Devils holding onto their 1-0 lead.
Kevin Dominique got the home crowd off their feet with a goal for the Panthers at 25:34 to tie the game. Less than ten minutes later with the Panthers on the powerplay, he scored his second of the period and put his team ahead 2-1 at 34:41.
It took the Devils less than a minute to tie the game with Brandon McNally hammering in a loose puck in front of Kevin Carr to make it 2-2 at 35:32. The game remained tied after 40 minutes of action, but the final period belonged to the Devils.
First it was McNally with his second goal of the game at 45:12 when a shot bounced off him past Carr while the Devils were on the powerplay to put them up 3-2. Trevor Cox followed his own shot and banged in the rebound to give the Devils a 4-2 lead with 9:58 left to play.
The Devils hung on to the two-goal lead for the final ten minutes of the game to take the win and the Diamond Jubilee Cup presented to the winners of the weekend series.
