Nottingham Panthers end Braehead Clan's play-off hopes
Last updated on .From the section Scotland
Braehead Clan's dreams of reaching the final four of the play-offs were dashed by an 8-4 aggregate quarter-final loss to Nottingham Panthers.
Clan narrowly lost the first leg 5-4 at the Braehead Arena on Friday night - their last home match of the season.
However, the Panthers proved too strong in Nottingham and ran out 3-0 winners in the return leg on Saturday.
The defeat ends Clan's debut season, where they finished fifth in the Elite League and won the Aladdin 20-20 Cup.
The Panthers opened the scoring in the first leg against the run of play through Matthew Myers, but Bobby Chaumont levelled for Clan on the powerplay.
Player/coach Corey Neilson then put Panthers back in front after a rash of sin bin penalties for both sides.
Guillaume Lepine's mis-hit effort then bobbled into the goal to extend Nottingham's lead, but a terrific fightback frmo Clan saw them level through powerplay goals from Brendan Cook and Jordan Krestanovich.
Player/coach Bruce Richardson put Clan ahead for the first time but two powerplay goals from David Clarke and Jeff Heerema gave Panthers the edge from the first leg.
The second leg saw Clan battle hard to overturn the deficit, but three strikes from Panthers settled the tie.
Danny Meyers broke the deadlock before a brace from David-Alexandre Beauregard ended the tie as a contest, and ended Clan's season.
