Blaze look to end Steelers' streak

Photo: Dean Woolley

The Coventry Blaze are the home team against the Sheffield Steelers this Tuesday evening at the Motorpoint Arena in the second meeting between the teams at the 2021 Elite Series.

The side's only previous clash took place six nights ago, and saw the Steelers run out comfortable 7-2 winners. Since that game, the Steelers have not lost, scored a further 14 goals in two matches, and top the standings, and with an average of 5.6 goals per game they dominate the scoring statistics column.

Coventry have two wins in the tournament so far, both of which were against Nottingham, together with a pair of overtime losses against Manchester. Danny Stewart's men are averaging only 2.8 goals per game thus far, with 3.4 against. 

Where the Blaze do lead the tournament however is on special teams. A powerplay of 27.78 and penalty kill at 88.24% are both tournament leads. Only eight of the team's 14 goals were scored at even strength - seven have come on the powerplay, and one shorthanded. In Shane Owen, Coventry do however boast the goalie with the highest save percentage thus far at 92.31%.

The Steelers meanwhile have three of the top four point scorers in the series - Tanner Eberle (5+6), Liam Kirk (5+4) and Robert Dowd (4+4) have all be on fire in recent games, and will take some stopping.

Team news
Both sides are expected to be unchanged from the teams that skated on Sunday. Sheffield are still without netminder John Muse, and are likely to be unable to call on his services for at least another week. Paul Swindlehurst remains unavailable for the Blaze through injury, although could be nearing a return.