Panthers stage stunning performance against dominant Lukko, but lose 4-2

 

The season finally started last night, with Nottingham Panthers in their 44 European clubs competition, the Champions Hockey League (CHL) as they took on Finnish team Lukko Rauman. Lukko were a much higher team, and showed that by dominating the first period! Lukko scored early with a 2 on 1 in front of Craig Kowalski with a one timer beating the Panthers goalie for 1-0. Quickly, they doubled it with a swift backhand opportunity, making it 2-0.

 It seemed Panthers were in for a long night, but in the second period they put up a stunning show, resulting in a scrum around the net coming out to Steve Lee who smashed it home for 2-1.

These teams were playing to their strengths now, and no one was giving up, but Panthers got a golden chance with a power-play. Very quickly after the faceoff, it was Steve Lee the hero once again with a bullet to make it 2-2.

It would be a huge third period, which had both teams doing everything they could to score, but it was Lukko finding the net twice again to win the game 4-2. Despite the loss, Panthers are proud of their performance and will hope to put things right as they take on Lulea tomorrow at 1:35pm.

The first 2 days CHL results: