Nottingham Panthers 3, Cardiff Devils 4

after sudden death overtime

Sean Bentivoglio scored a dramatic overtime winner for Cardiff Devils in their Elite League clash with Nottingham Panthers.

The teams were locked at 1-1 with less than two minutes left before a penalty shootout when Bentivoglio struck with a backhand shot past goalie Miika Wiikman.

Andrew Hotham and Joey Martin set up ‘Benti’ and he finished clinically.

Panthers set out on an ice hockey mission to exact revenge on Devils for their 5-0 defeat at Ice Arena Wales the previous weekend, but player-coach Andrew Lord and his team ground out another win.

Devils now turn to their League home match against Manchester Storm ay the IAW in Cardiff Bay on Sunday (6pm).

More than 6,000 Panthers fans roared their team on and they led 3-1 during the final period, but Lord’s Devils have character, spirit and intensity in abundance.

They fought back with a hunger which rocked the home team and ultimately earned both points.

Devils made a fast start, scoring after only one minute 53 seconds when Josh Batch fired through traffic past netminder Wiikman with Patrick Asselin and Joey Haddad adding assists.

Panthers tied the game when a defensive error led to Robert Farmer going in alone to score past goalie Ben Bowns (16-12) and they went ahead with the only goal of the second period.

Robert Lachowicz collected a pass from David Clarke and fired low past Bowns to make it 2-1 at 30-31.

Moments later Patrick Bordeleau threw a monster of a hit against a Panther defender and Brian McGratton grabbed the Devils man, but the two former NHL heavyweights just wrestled to the ground and both sat two minutes for roughing.

The third period started with Gleason Fournier taking a penalty for goaltender interference at 40-43 and Nottingham made it 3-1 with a David Clarke powerplay goal.

At 3-1 down Devils looked in trouble, but they battled for each other and Patrick Asselin netted their second goal after 43-12.

Bordeleau levelled at 3-3 (48-28) and the fight was hotting up.

With 40 seconds left in regulation time Mark Louis was called for hooking and the Panthers had a powerplay to finish the game and then start overtime.

Only 21 seconds later Panthers’ Stephen Schultz was called for boarding to cancel out their man advantage.

Into overtime both teams had their chances and Devils had two breakaways with Wiikman saving both.

He was helpless, though, when Bentivoglio’s backhand flew past him for a Devils winner.

Ticket information for Sunday’s League clash with Manchester in Cardiff Bay is available from Arena and ticket hotline via 0800 0842 666.

Storm last came to Cardiff just before Christmas and shocked the home side, beating the league leaders 3-2 on the back of an impressive 28 save win for netminder Mike Clemente.

Chris Culligan and Gleason Fournier scored in the loss for the Devils.

Match stats v Panthers on Saturday:

Goals, Panthers: R Farmer 1+0, R Lachowicz 1+0, D Clarke 1+1, B McGratton 0+1, S Schultz 0+2, B Moran 0+1.

Devils: J Batch 1+0, P Asselin 1+1, P Bordeleau 1+0, S Bentivoglio 1+0, J Haddad 0+1, S Hotham 0+1, M Myers 0+1, A Hotham 0+2, M Richardson 0+1, J Martin 0+1.

Period scores (Panthers first): 1-1; 1-0 (2-1); 1-2 (3-3); 0-1 (3-4).

Shots on goal: Panthers 14+6+4+1=25; Devils 2+13+16+7=38.

Powerplays: Panthers 1/5; Devils 1/5.

Penalties in minutes: Panthers 2+4+6=12; Devils 2+4+6=12.

Referee: Liam Sewell.

Attendance: 6,262.

Men of the match: Panthers, Dan Spang; Devils, Andrew Hotham.