Panthers 4, Belfast 3

NOTTINGHAM Panthers' charge for the Elite League runners-up spot carried on in earnest at the National Ice Centre last night with a hard-fought, come-from-behind, victory over Belfast Giants.

As ever, Panthers' ability to score goals in the second and third periods made up for a slow start, when they found themselves 3-1 down to a team fully expected to be hung-over following their celebrations the previous night after winning the Challenge Cup.

Clearly, Belfast had other ideas and they caught Panthers cold in the opening session.

But after hauling themselves level and finally taking the lead with a fine strike from leading goalscorer Brendan Cook – his 30th of the season – Panthers had to survive a nervy last five minutes while short-handed.

There was also a welcome goal for David Clarke, two games into his return from a lengthy spell on the sidelines, with the others coming from captain Danny Meyers and Kevin Bergin.

The win leaves Panthers two points ahead of Coventry, who have to play Belfast on Saturday (home) and Newcastle (away) the next night, while Panthers finish their regular season in Cardiff on Sunday.

It will go down to the wire, though. If Coventry win both in regulation, they will finish second and face Newcastle in the play-off quarter finals, with Panthers then most likely to meet Manchester over two legs.

Whoever Panthers meet – Newcastle, Manchester or possibly Cardiff – they should have the firepower to go through to the finals weekend of April 4-5.

The overwhelming majority of Panthers' goals have come in the middle and last sessions which is testimony to the fitness and endurance of Corey Neilson's outfit.

Which is just as well, as they were given a wake-up call by Belfast who certainly didn't start like a side that was happy to settle for fourth place.

After Clarke had missed a glaring chance to open the scoring in the fourth minute, a rare penalty to Johan Molin resulted in a smart finish from Evan Cheverie on the power-play (6.04) to put the visitors in front.

Panthers netted on the power-play themselves to level on nine minutes, with Clarke showing his relief as he put the puck past Stevie Lyle at the second attempt.

But two goals in 35 seconds from George Awada stunned the home fans.

The first came after fine work by Belfast player-coach Steve Thornton, who manufactured space for Awada to drill past the static Michel Robinson (10.06).

And after James Ferrara had fired wildly over Lyle's goal, Awada latched on to a defensive error to score Giants' third (10.31).

Panthers were handed the perfect opportunity to claw themselves back into it, but squandered a lengthy 5-on-3 power-play and had to wait until the second period before launching a fightback.

Giants were forced onto the defensive right after the break and after seeing off a penalty to Colin Shields, were pulled apart when Panthers captain Danny Meyers jumped neatly into the play to net his sixth of the season (23.17).

Clarke then smacked another drive against a post before Kevin Bergin whipped in the power-play equaliser (36.43) after good work by Neilson and Bruce Richardson behind the net.

Two minutes into the third period, Cook whistled in the winner from Ed Hill and Panthers had the chance to make sure of victory when handed a string of power-play opportunities which they failed to convert.

They might have had to pay for their wastefulness as ref Tom Darnell called successive penalties on Panthers Marc Levers, Nick Toneys and Dan Tessier in the dying moments. But Robinson and the defence held firm to set up a nail-biting final weekend.

Johan Molin was last night named Supporters Club Player of the Year, with Bruce Richardson, voted Most Entertaining by the fans.

Canadian defenceman Mark Kasun – one of the players who brought hockey back to the Ice Stadium in 1980 – has died, aged 55. He leaves a 16-year-old son.