Steelers stay hot on top

Photo: Dean Woolley

Sheffield Steelers stayed four points top of the Elite League with a 5-1 win over Nottingham Panthers in front of 9,368 spectators at the Utilita Arena.

Two Robert Dowd goals put the Steelers in control in the opening period. After a short spell of Panthers pressure in the first couple of minutes, the Steelers broke the other way and Brian Diffley's patience was too much for Mike Robinson as he found Dowd at the back post for an easy tap-in with 3:34 played. A little over eight minutes later, an almost identical play saw Vallerand set up Dowd for a repeat finish past a helpless Robinson to double the lead at 11:41. Jordan Kelsall dropped the gloves but Dominic Cormier wasn't interested at 15:37, leading to the Panther given a minor penalty - however, his team turned the puck over as the Steelers tired to dump the puck, and broke 2-on-1 where Otto Nieminen set up Hugo Roy for an excellent finish past Matt Greenfield on the 16-minute mark for a shorthanded goal.

Vallerand beat Robinson low on the same powerplay to re-establish the home side's two-goal advantage 1:25 later.

In period two, Jeremy Welsh almost caught the Steelers out again with the extra man - as he exited the penalty box he took a stretch pass and almost beat Greenfield after some nice hands to make himself space. On the very next play, the Steelers broke 3-on-1 and had Robinson to thank for an excellent push across his crease to deny Cole Shudra the home side's fourth goal.

The Panthers had some good spells at the start of the final period, with most of their good things coming from Otto Nieminen and Hugo Roy. As the game wore on the Steelers extra depth started to tell and they tilted the ice back the other way. A simple faceoff play led to the Steelers going 5-1 up - Cole Shudra the scorer from the blue line as the final ten minutes approached. The Panthers injury woes got worse when joe Hazeldine limped off in the final five minutes of the game, while the hosts almost made it 6-1 in the final minute but went for one pass too many.