NOTTINGHAM Panthers made a mockery of the 'Team Hollywood' taunts from Coventry Blaze with their best performance of the season to stun the reigning champions 4-0 at a sell-out Skydome last night.

They were once again superbly back-stopped by former Edinburgh goaltender Michel Robinson, who has enjoyed a new lease of life since swapping clubs at the bottom of the table with that of genuine title contenders.

He now has an impressive save average of over 93% in his seven games and, following the 5-4 win after penalty shots the previous night against Cardiff, he has helped Panthers up to joint second spot, four points adrift of leaders Sheffield.

But it was the grit, drive and sheer will to win from every single one of those in black and gold – especially the oft-maligned defence – that earned Panthers their first away victory over Coventry in three seasons.

From the first face-off, when Johan Molin – the smallest player on the ice – levelled a defenceman with a big hit in the corner, you sensed this was going to be Panthers' night.

And Panthers certainly set their stall out in the first two minutes when Kevin Bergin took on Blaze heavyweight Carlyle Lewis and gave as good as he got, even asking the linesmen not to stop the fight as he wanted to carry on the show for the television cameras.

What the cameras will show is that, just six seconds later, Bruce Richardson handed out a real hammering to Coventry's Danny Stewart, who lost a tooth during one of his two knock downs.

Richardson and a linesman even had to change their shirts after Stewart had bled all over them.

Before the game, Coventry coach Paul Thompson had repeated his sarcastic 'Team Hollywood' remarks saying: "The Panthers have their heads in the clouds so much – I hope they see our championship banners on their way down back to earth."

That was taken up by the Coventry supporters who had "Team Hollywood" banners hanging around the arena and had even installed Oscar motifs behind the Panthers bench. The visitors weren't best pleased.

The highly-charged atmosphere might have exploded before a puck had been dropped when both sides faced each other down at the warm-up, with hard-man Lewis ducking out of his confrontation with Panthers counterpart Rumun Ndur – not for the first time on the night – amid a lot of pushing and shoving.

Coventry, wearing their red, snow-covered Christmas shirts (Team Hollywood anyone?), had most of the early territorial advantage, with referee Dean Smith calling Panthers for a succession of penalties.

Blaze, in fact, outshot Panthers 18-9 in that opening session but it was the visitors who got that vital breakthrough in the 23rd minute, with leading goalscorer David Clarke given time to whip in a wrist shot past JP Perras.

Robinson twice had to be sharp to keep out Dan Carlson before the goalie pulled off a fine one-on-one diving poke-check to thwart Jonathan Weaver.

That save proved so vital because less than a minute later, Panthers swept down the ice for their second goal, with coach Corey Neilson's pass to Dan Tessier being fed to Molin who dispatched the puck with confidence.

It wasn't until the 33rd minute when Panthers got their first power-play opportunity, but they had to wait until the 49th minute for that crucial third goal.

Brendan Cook hasn't had the best of times in front of goal recently but his sweet finish couldn't have come at a better time and the relief on his face was clear to see.

Jade Galbraith, who assisted on that goal, was then kicked out with a game misconduct when his shirt was ripped off his back by Carlson who took exception to a hit by the Panthers winger.

But as chants of "Team Hollywood" rang down from the visiting fans, who were relishing their opportunity to turn the tables, Clarke wrapped up victory in the final minute with a simple tap-in created by Cook and Neilson, with his third assist.

Hooray for Hollywood?

The previous night a hat-trick, plus the game-winning penalty-shot, from Molin helped to defeat an under-strength but plucky Cardiff side 5-4 at the National Ice Centre.

Marc Levers put Panthers in front (4.51), but Cardiff – without three imports – were clearly not going to lie down and Phil Hill finally got one past the impressive Robinson to equalise (7.47). Jay Latulippe made Panthers pay for a poor power-play by jumping out of the penalty box to put his side in front (24.19) only for Molin to tip in from Tessier (30.27) on the power-play.

Molin put Panthers back in front two minutes later with a fine finish but as the teams continued to trade goals, Hill got his second of the night (43) after a scramble in front of Robinson's net when the defence failed to clear.

Molin was on hand to tap in his hat-trick marker from Tessier (49.03) to make it 4-3 but six minutes from time, Latulippe powered in an acute drive that Robinson never saw to send the game into overtime.

With no further scoring, it went to penalty shots and with only Tessier and Tyson Teplitski netting in the opening rounds, it was left to ice-cool Molin to fire in the sudden-death winner.

mick.holland@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk