GAME THREAD: Steelers v Panthers: The Boxing Day Classic

[greeny]

How we came away with 2 points tonight i dont know but a win is a win,,,,, poor passing most of the game , we are just lacking that extra bit of quality in the team but having said that there is not much between several of the teams this year standard wise, panthers will not be too dissapointed with a point away from home. Hopefully an away win tomorrow in normal time to give us that few points advantage.

[Doom]

It seems rather strange reading the forums. The Panthers fans seem the happier, despite losing the game.

I thought overall it was a 50/50 game, with Panthers edging the 1st and us edging the 2nd and 3rd. Having looked at tracking on the Elite League website, it has us at 53% to win the game which is more or less what I would havd expected.

We were also 57% on faceoffs, which I find very surprising. I can only conclude that the important ones I really wanted us to win, the majority were won cleanly by Nottingham.

No player was worse than -1 on the game, with the best coming from Cormier +2, Balmas +2 and Dowd +3.

I still don't think we're playing particularly well, but here we are sitting at the top of the league and number one seed in the Challenge Cup.

I really feared we might find ourselves falling off the pace over Christmas, because we have a tough schedule, but so far it's 6 points from 6. Winning when not playing well is a good habit, but we'll only get away with it for so long. It would be nice to get a statement victory against one of our main rivals.

Hopefully when he's up to speed Watling will add a bit of stardust to the forwards.

Regards

Doom

[smbmetal]

Brilliant….

https://www.eliteleague.co.uk/article/5 ... nce-record

I’d also be interested to know what the total viewing figures for both in person and stream figures were. I would imagine there were a few Panther and Steelers fans watching the stream, especially with it being sold out.

Bet there were at least another 5,000+ to add to the in person live figures.

[MLL79]

I hope it doesn't sound churlish, but I really thought we were second best for a lot of the time tonight. The passing was often poor. Our PK is really outstanding this season. We didn’t get a single pp thanks in part to rather eccentric refereeing. (Why is Perrin around so often when the seems to be the case Surely literally kicking a player when he is down is worth 2 mins?) I didn’t feel we made enough A1 chances and the PK and Greenfield kept us in it for the first two periods. I did feel Greenfield wasn’t at his best in the third, but overall he owes us absolutely nothing. I imagine he regrets not getting his pad down on the ice for one goal. Dowd really has become Boys Own Annual stuff. As has been said we will miss him for his on ice play and leadership when the time comes. I hope Watling makes it soon. We really need his finishing.

Got the webcast on this one as couldn’t get a ticket, and have to say totally agree with the second best comment. Likewise I don’t want to sound downbeat, but I often think a lot of our offence seems to be quite broken up - all seems to come from chippy breakouts that turn into a rush, or very desultory tip ins and chasing. Watching the away teams, they seem somehow more organised and play stick to stick passing with some really well executed plays. I think Nott (said through gritted teeth…) played a more attractive style.

Not done many away webcasts this season so I wonder if we change style a little away from home?

Just my two penneth atm.

For my other thought - Gentile I thought had some very nice touches and moves whenever he was out there - wonder if Balmas-Watling-Gentile would be an effective combo to try?

Cheers