Great Britain forward Brett Perlini scored his first goal of the Elite Series as Nottingham Panthers beat Sheffield Steelers 4-3 at the National Ice Centre.
Perlini put Panthers ahead at 2:56 with a shot through the five-hole and then turned provider to set-up Christophe Boivin (9:55).
A rush down the ice saw Robert Lachowicz feed his Great Britain team-mate Ollie Betteridge, whose centering pass found Mark Matheson to score against his former club (12:48) and Boivin then scored his second of the night (18:37) as Panthers had a four-goal first-period lead.
Former GB international Jason Hewitt redirected Robert Dowd’s shot as the Steelers slightly reduced the arrears at 36:58 on the powerplay.
Josef Mikyska danced in for Sheffield’s second goal (46:26) and Liam Kirk blasted in his fifth goal of the season (58:29) on a six-on-four play, with the Steelers on the powerplay and pulling the netminder for the extra skater, but Nottingham hung on for their third victory of the tournament.
Four teams – Coventry Blaze, Manchester Storm, Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers – are competing in the 2021 Elite Series at the National Ice Centre.
The event has been organised under the government’s Elite Sport Guidance, with regular testing and a full covid-19 protocol in place.
The tournament is forming part of Great Britain’s preparations for the upcoming World Championship in Latvia.
All games are available to watch on a live stream – click here for more details and to purchase the webcasts.
Photo credit: Karl Denham.