Basingstoke Bison 0, Nottingham Panthers 3

LADY luck was nowhere to be seen on Saturday night as the Bison hit the post four times in their defeat by Nottingham.

Bison general manager and head coach Mark Bernard said: "It was just one of those nights where the puck hit the post instead of going in. My players have produced an excellent effort and we have out-shot a very good hockey club 31-21."

"Steve Gallace had a great game for us and was certainly getting the shots off on the powerplay, which is something we have been working on in practice this week."

The visiting Panthers gave a debut to National Hockey League star Nick Boynton, who joined Ian Moran and Steve McKenna in a trio of players on show from the top league in the world.

In Boynton's first shift of the night, the Panthers opened the scoring when Mark Cadotte latched on to a long pass, setting up David Clarke to score at 1:11.

Despite the early setback, the home side had by far the better of the opening session, with former Bison netminder Curtis Cruickshank producing a string of great saves.

The first powerplay came when Clarke departed for hooking Jeff Ewasko. The Herd had some good pressure and man-of-the-match Gallace forced Cruickshank to kick away his shot.

Then, still with the man advantage, another Gallace blue-line shot saw Doug Sheppard and Shawn Maltby unable to force home the rebound.

A few minutes later, a Jason Norrie shot from the left deflected off the visitors' goalie and on to the post, but Tony Redmond was unable to get the telling touch.

Later in the session, a stray pass saw Sheppard look to drill a shot into the top corner but Cruickshank knocked it away.

The only Nottingham chances of note came late in the period when Scott Ricci hit the post from a Matt Myers cross and Ronnie Vogel produced a great save to deny Clarke.

The second session saw the Bison on the powerplay after just 56 seconds following a low hit by Myers on Gallace.

The Panthers had the first chance short-handed when McKenna set up Marek Ivan, but he blasted over the net. The Bison took the puck to the other end and Maltby found Gallace and his low rocket shot beat Cruickshank all ends up, but then flew back off the base of the post to safety.

The visitors made the most of the let-off a minute later, when a long defence-splitting pass from Moran allowed Clarke to skate in alone on Vogel and make it 2-0 at 25:49.

The Herd never gave up, with Jerry Galway going close before Ivan completed a move involving Konstantin Kalmikov and McKenna to add a third goal for the Panthers.

Another home powerplay saw Gallace hit the post and then, at 37:49, Sheppard's fierce right-wing bullet was greeted with the sound of a rebound off the pipework.

The final session saw both teams have chances, with Vogel producing a good save to deny Kalmikov after a slick passing move from the Panthers.

At the other end, a Duncan Dalmao shot came off the pads of Cruickshank and again Mike Ford and Redmond were just unable to force the puck home in a goal-mouth scramble.

Soon after, Moran - the pick of the NHL stars on show, broke away, but Owen Walter's timely interception meant the Panther failed to get his shot off.

The final shot of the game came in the last 30 seconds when Cruickshank kicked away a Gallace shot to collect his second shut-out in Basingstoke this season, after turning away all 31 shots.

Scoring, Panthers: Clarke 2+0, Ivan 1+0, Ricci, I Moran, Kalmikov, McKenna, Cadotte, Carlsson 0+1.

Shots on goal: Vogel 21, Cruickshank 31

Penalties: Bison 6min, Panthers 8.