Cardiff Devils’ season came to a close in the most agonising fashion, as the club lost the Elite Ice Hockey League play-offs Grand Final to Nottingham Panthers in overtime.

Having beaten Belfast Giants 5-0 in a dominant display the day before, Devils went into the final looking to win a fourth play-off title in seven seasons.

Beating the Giants – who had topped the regular season – marked the high point of the weekend for Devils, has goals from Joey Martin, Josh MacDonald, Zack O’Brien, and a brace for Cole Sanford knocked out the top seeds.

Standing in the way of the title was Nottingham Panthers, hosts of finals weekend, and the partisan Panthers crowd helped their side through two overtime victories to record the most extraordinary title victory.

In the final, Nottingham gave up a three-goal lead but came through to beat the Devils 4-3 in double overtime, with the winning goal being scored by Mitch Fossier at 92:15.

Panthers took an early through captain Sam Herr’s excellent re-direct on a Cooper Zech shot, in front of Ben Bowns, put Nottingham ahead with just 81 seconds played.

Didrik Hendrant’s shot on a bouncing puck came back off Ben Bowns’ shoulder as the Panthers pressed again, while Zsombor Garát’s shot from the point also caused problems.

The Panthers almost made use of an Evan Mosey boarding minor but could not double their advantage despite keeping the Devils in their own end for most of the two minutes. A huge moment for the Welsh side.

Brett Perlini had arguably the Devils’ best chance of the first period but saw Jason Grande cut the angle down well, while the rebound did not quite fall for the forward to shoot again.

A Kris Kontos faceoff win deflected off Hugo Roy and called Grande into an excellent reaction save to prevent the Panthers putting one into their own net as the period ticked down.

The second period could not have started any better for the Panthers. When the Devils failed to clear their zone, the puck popped out for captain Herr to wrist shot high past Bowns and make it 2-0 just over five minutes after the break.

Just over two minutes later, Quinn Wichers shot was stopped by Bowns, but the rebound fell straight to Mitch Fossier who slotted home to make it 3-0 with only 27:50 played.

Tyler Busch was ejected from the game at 30:47 after an incident with Matt Alfaro off the play which saw the Panther take just a minor. Cardiff were able to kill off the penalty and were helped by Joey Martin drawing Cooper Zech into a tripping call.

Kohen Olischefski should have got the Devils on the board with just over three minutes left in the middle period but shot over as he joined the rush.

As the Devils began to create more chances, Olischefski took Josh MacDonald’s pass, faked Grande, and slotted home with 1:07 left in the period to make it 1-3. The period ended with a big hit from Andrew MacWilliam on Herr.

Ollie Betteridge took a bad clearance from Jarrod Gourley and called Bowns into a decent save as the Panthers came close to extending their lead with 11 minutes to go. Going up the other way, a Gleason Fournier pass found Joey Martin at the back post to fire past Grande and make it 3-2.

Riley Brandt came close to tying the game on the next play, with the Devils in the ascendency. Grande stopped Perlini from point-blank range to keep the game level and see the Panthers kill off a penalty with just over five minutes to go.

With under four minutes to go, the Devils kept the puck alive down low where Ryan Barrow set up Gleason Fournier for a one-timer to tie the game with just 3:47 left on the clock in regulation to force overtime.

One minute into overtime, with the Panthers skating on a man-advantage, Nottingham thought they had won it when Mitch Fossier got the puck over the line from the crease.

The goal was initially reviewed for a kick and upheld, but the Devils challenged for goalie interference and, after some time, had the goal overturned on video review.

Donaghey rang a shot off the post as the Devils enjoyed some offensive zone time; while breaking the other way Matt Alfaro beat his man but not Bowns as the Panthers came close.

Fournier was forced into a tripping minor to prevent Herr from going through on Bowns to give them a third powerplay in OT. Play went to 4-on-4, but Gourley thought he had won it for the Devils – only for the Panthers to challenge the play. Again, the goal was called back for goalie interference cutting short yet more celebrations.

With no goals through 20 minutes of overtime, the teams headed into a break.

In period two of OT, Tim Doherty had a chance to win it at the top of the crease but could not get the puck past Bowns.

With the clock at 92:15, Garát’s pass found Fossier in front to beat Bowns and win the game for the Panthers in the most dramatic of ways.

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