Greg Owen has now scored 14 goals for Blaze this season

Coventry Blaze were knocked off the top of the Elite League after losing 3-1 to new leaders Nottingham Panthers at the Skydome on Sunday.

Blaze could not follow up their 5-2 success in Cardiff the previous night and were outplayed by Nottingham.

Panthers scored in each period with Greg Owen grabbing a consolation goal for the home side.

Blaze now trail Nottingham by a point although they have two games in hand on their title rivals.

Panthers, who beat Sheffield Steelers 5-2 on Saturday thanks to goals from Kevin Bergin, Cameron Mann, Corey Neilson, David Clarke and Marc Levers, took the lead in the third minute through Clarke at the Skydome.

His effort was cancelled out by Owen midway through the opening period but Marty Gascon then netted twice to ensure all the points went back to the East Midlands.

In Saturday's game, Luke Fulghum scored his second hat-trick of the month to help Blaze beat the Devils.

But Coventry netminder Peter Hirsch was the real star, facing 42 strikes but conceding just twice while the Devils' Stevie Lyle shipped in five despite only facing 17 strikes.

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