HAT-TRICKS apiece from man of the match Bruce Graham and Wales-born Matthew Myers kept Nottingham Panthers' triple crown dream alive with a 6-3 (2-1, 1-1, 3-1) victory over Cardiff Devils in the Elite League Play-off semi-finals this afternoon.
League champions and Challenge Cup winners Panthers were always going to be too strong for the Devils who had the audacity to score with just 36 seconds on the clock, Max Birbraer tipping in past Craig Kowlaski.
But once Panthers levelled it up, with Graham opening his account five minutes later, there was only going to be one outcome as Cardiff were at times overwhelmed by the incessant pressure.
In fact the only time Devils managed to swing the momentum their way was when referee Tom Darnell intervened with a succession of petty penalties on Panthers.
And if the official gets to run tomorrow's final, with Belfast or Coventry the opposition, one can only hope he lets the players decide the outcome.
Graham got the go-ahead goal in the 13th minute with a fine power-play strike and after Pat Galivan had gone so close to chipping a third in the 26th minute, Myers drifted in from the left wing to make it 3-1.
Chris Blight kept Cardiff in it with a fine solo effort (31.58), with Galivan harshly penalised for tripping, but Panthers really exerted their authority in the final period.
With Panthers swarming all over Chris Whitley's goal, Myers rattled home No.4 from a great pass by David Clarke (45.38) and Graham sealed his hat-trick with a clever finish (53.23), using the defenceman as a screen.
Although Cardiff scrambled a third from former Panther Mark Richardson after pulling Whitley for the extra skater in the final minute, Myers had the last say with his empty netter.
Panthers' coach Corey Neilson said afterwards: "After their initial push and that early goal there was a lot of one-way traffic on their net.
"Despite the hat-tricks I thought our best line tonight was the Francis-Galivan- Lachowicz line. They were excellent.
"It's weird because whenever Linger (David Ling) is on the ice they don't seem to do a lot but then the puck's in the net; but Matthew got himself into some great positions, which he hasn't been doing for a while and I was very pleased for him.
"The referee was hard on us for the first couple of periods but once it got to the third it swayed the other way.
"That looked like a penalty shot on Beckett to me. But refs tend to balance the books. He was hard on us early; the Lepine hit was clean and wasn't elbows, the Galivan penalty they scored on was harsh, but then it evens out.
"But let's not give these guys grief. They have a tough job . . . I wouldn't want it, that's for sure.
Hat-trick hero Graham added: "It was nice to score that third goal in front of the Cardiff fans and see all those sour faces down there!
"They brought a lot of early pressure but once we shrugged off that quick goal, we didn't have too many problems."
