Steelers extend streak with impressive road win

Photo: Panthers Images

Sheffield completed a Christmas double over rivals Nottingham with an impressive 4-1 road performance in front of a full house at the Motorpoint Arena.

The Panthers had the better of the opening period in terms of pressure, but not scoring chances. An early Mathieu Tousignant and Robert Dowd fight got the crowd excited, followed 14 seconds later by John Armstrong invited Jordan Kelsall to dance - the former was assessed an instigator penalty of the play. However, the Panthers' puck possession was loose and they gave up three shorthanded chances the other way to the Steelers with Kevin Carr the man to keep the game scoreless.

As the period ticked down the Steelers began to put some pressure on themselves, but the period ended scoreless.

Nottingham had a couple of good looks on Rok Stojanovič's net early in period two but to no avail. Those missed opportunities eventually came back to bite the hosts who were caught 2-on-1 the other way and went behind to Alex Graham's finished which deflected in off a skate in the crease at 34:39.

The Steelers doubled their lead on a fine effort from Marc-Olivier Vallerand 29 seconds later to take a firm grip of the game.

Vojta Polák had an early chance in the third to wrap the game up but missed the target with Carr's top corner gaping. The Panthers thought they might have cut the deficit with just under 10 minutes left in the game but the puck was confirmed to have not crossed the line on video review.

Inside the final six minutes, Tanner Eberle was left open on top of the crease to bat home a rebound and effectively end the game with 5:20 to play. Sean Richards struck shorthanded with a nice wrist-shot finish from the circle to get the Panthers on the board with 3:32 to play. The Panthers pulled Carr with well over two minutes to go but struggled to create any real chances in from of Stojanovič. Vallerand found the empty net with 32 seconds left for the night's final goal.

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