Steelers win battle for top spot

Photo: Dean Woolley

The Sheffield Steelers went to the top of the 2021 Elite Series standings with a 5-3 win over Coventry at the Motorpoint Arena.

Tristan Keck gave the Blaze the lead in Game 18 with a powerplay goal after just 2:12, but the Steelers were level just shy of the ten-minute mark through Brendan Connolly also with a man advantage.

Period to belonged to the Steelers who outshot Coventry almost three to one over the 20 minutes. Matt Myers deflected Kevin Schulze's effort at 32:18 to put them ahead, followed 90 seconds later by Connolly capitalising on a bad turnover to slot past Shane Owen.

However, penalty trouble for the men in orange saw their lead cut in half just 23 seconds into period three through Janne Laakkonen. The Blaze were then given another 5-on-3 opportunity some three minutes later but failed to convert, and they were punished when Liam Kirk picked up and converted the rebound from a Connolly effort shortly after the Steelers returned to full strength.

Rob Dowd's goal at 51:49 made things comfortable for the Steelers, while Keck added a late one for the Blaze with 1:44 to go.

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