EIHL Games Notes Preview; Clan vs Panthers

Third place Nottingham Panthers travel to Glasgow to face the Clan just hours after Corey Neilson departed the club, in a hugely anticipated clash which for the hosts, would help to lift the tension on a disappointing season so far.

Panthers are 6-3-1 in their last 10GP, minus an unbeaten romp to silverware in the IIHF Continental Cup on home ice, boasting 13 from the last 20 available points.

They are currently 4 points from leaders Giants with a game in hand, meaning a win would place them in 2nd with momentum to boot.

Meanwhile, Clan precariously sit in 8th, facing a downward trend, but not enough to completely get caught by the chasing Scots clubs in the battle for playoffs.

It looks almost certain that Stars and Flyers have run out of time to catch up, leaving Clan in a position to salvage and play for pride, before heading into the shortest post-season in professional hockey.

They have just 2 regulation wins in their last 10GP, recently snapping a 4 game skid vs Stars, earning just 5 from an available 20 points.

Those are their only wins so far in 2026.

Tale of the Tape

There have been 3 previous meetings in regulation season between the teams, with Panthers leading the series so far 3 to nothing.

From those games, they have a 15:5 lead in goals scored, for a +10 GD.

This hasn’t been their only meetings, with a quarter final single leg knock out game at Braehead, where both teams had to deal with injuries, more prevalent for the then visiting Panthers, with most of their top players sidelined.

That game saw Panthers easily skate away with the win and progression to the semi-final round of the Challenge Cup, which ate into the growing tension from the stands for the home team.

Locked IN – Special Teams

Panthers are 2nd overall for the power play with 29.21%. An enviable metric for many, especially their hosts and opponents. As mentioned on the last episode on the EIHL Face-Off Podcast (Ep. 69, link to audio end of article), the Panthers have a leader in their group for the PP.

Ross Armour (16G, 16A, 32pts) is 2nd overall for PPGs, with 7 from 16 scored, going for 43.75% chance of conversion on the special team.

Deven Sideroff and Jason Fram are the closest to him on the PP with 2 goals each, with 3 other Panthers players ahead of them respectively.

So, it would come as no surprise that Clan are rock bottom on this special team with just 14.%. Ironically, last season Panthers finished last overall with 16.67%. So, there is still time to improve, as the team above them, Cardiff Devils, currently hold at 16.48% on the PP.

On the PK, Panthers also hold 2nd overall with 83.75%, where as Clan fare a lot better, in 4th with 77.78%. So, there is something to be proud of at least from their group in this area.

Panthers are the only top 3 team in the top five for the PK, with Steelers (4th place) leading the league across all special teams.

Differentials & Further Insights

Panthers are third overall for GS (Goals Scored) with 117, whilst 2nd for GFA (Goals For Average) with 3.77. Their goals scored vs Clan is well above average at 5.

For GA (Goals Against), Panthers have 77, again, 3rd best overall for a GD of +40.

Clan, meanwhile have struggled offensively, with a host of injuries derailing any form of cohesion and chemistry for their team.

They currently have 76 GS, just 8 ahead of Stars and 3 behind Flyers in 9th overall. Their own GD is -22, which is largely explanatory of their season thus far, especially since Aittokallio has been sidelined with a long term injury.

In recent weeks they had also released Jarusek, who had a woeful return for production.

Against Panthers, it tells a vastly different story, yet aligns with Panthers’ own GD, this time at -41. Considering their record vs Panthers returns a 1.6 GFA in regular season games, this largely checks out.

Even the single leg knockout ended 4:1 to Panthers, which provides a solid insight toward the expect result.

It puts things into perspective when you account for the chances made for each team, with Clan slightly leading 1080:1074 – ouch, from a Clan perspective.

It makes further insights even more infuriating for Clan fans, as by their Corsi, it shows the team enjoys controlling their games, with a 51.8%.

Panthers are only slightly ahead with 56.9% for their own Corsi.

How this reads can look like both teams are strong at controlling their respective games, which in turn, increases likelihood for chances of winning, especially improved xG’s (Expected Goals).

Where this starts to have an impact is sustainability.

Clan currently operate with at 0.96 points per game, whereas Panthers are at 1.51 with a game in hand over their beleaguered hosts.

The potential for a swing to continue vs against weighs heavily for the EIHL title contenders.

For the latest episode of the EIHL Face-Off Podcast; https://x.com/EIHLFaceOff/status/2016254745451905129?s=20