Steelers' hit five in first to thrash Giants

Photo: Dean Woolley

The Sheffield Steelers blew the Belfast Giants away with five first-period goals to secure a huge win against the Belfast Giants in a meeting of two teams tipped to be challenging for the Premier Sports Elite League title come the end of the season.

Only 3:19 into the game, Evan Mosey blocked Kevin Schulze's shot in front of the net and put the loose puck past Tyler Beskorowany for the first of six goals to go in during the opening 20 minutes. 

53 seconds later, however, the Giants were level when JJ Piccinich let a wrist shot fly from the top of the circle that beat Barry Brust short side to tie the game. 

That was as good as things would get for the Giants though as the Steelers ran in four goals in under nine minutes to take full control of the game. Anthony DeLuca snapped a puck past an unpositioned Beskorowany at 11:53 to give the hosts the lead back, and 90 seconds later Marc-Olivier Vallerand was given too much time to pick his spot for a powerplay goal. 64 seconds layer, Robert Dowd's shot was saved but Tanner Eberle jumped on the rebound to make it 4-1 at 14:26, with Kevin Schulze making it five 37 seconds before the end of the period as the Steelers nicely finished a 3-on-1 rush.

The teams traded penalties in the middle period, but the Giants were unable to beat Brust and find a way back into the game, a 5-on-3 advantage as the clock ticked down being their best chance that went begging.

The Steelers rounded off their win with two goals late in the third. Matias Sointu continued his incredible form since joining the Steelers with his seventh in as many games at 57:34, while David Phillips added the seventh 61 seconds before the final buzzer. 

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