Nottingham Panthers missed the chance to go top of the Superleague as a result of this 2-0 defeat by Belfast Giants at the Odyssey Arena on Wednesday evening.

In turn the victory kept alive the Giants' hopes of retaining the Superleague title.

After a scoreless first period, the game burst into life in the middle session with referee Nigel Boniface calling 60 penalty minutes.

Chief culprits were Belfast duo Paxton Schulte and Paul Kruse plus Jason Clarke of Nottingham who all received 10-minute misconducts.

However Schulte turned hero when he gave Belfast the lead on the powerplay with seven minutes left as Panthers' Briane Thompson sat out a minor hooking penalty.

Dave Matsos sealed victory for the Giants with 16 seconds remaining before Kruse was given a game misconduct.

Giants netminder Ryan Bach made 28 saves to post his first Superleague shutout of the season.