Perfect weekend for Steelers

Photo: Al Goold

A 6-3 win in Glasgow over the Clan ensured it was a perfect, four-point weekend for league leaders Sheffield who extended their advantage at the top to four points.

Period one was a tight affair at Braehead Arena, unsurprising given the two previous meetings between the teams were decided by just a single goal. John Armstrong came closest to opening the scoring with a shot that flew off Shane Starrett's post.

While the opening 20 minutes were cagey, things really came to life in the next period. Colton Yellow Horn opened the scoring 4:!2 into the second with a one-timer from the circle off Dyson Stevenson's feed. Martin Látal levelled just over two minutes later in a game which really started to go end to end.

Defenseman Mitch Jones pulled a nice move to get himself free in the offensive zone and wrist past Rok Stojanovič at 27:37 which put the Clan back ahead, but again the hosts were unable to hold on to their lead for very long. With 30:32 on the board, Brandon Whistle smartly finished in close top shelf to tie things up - had he not scored, the Clan were to be penalised which may well have resulted in a penalty shot. Jonathan Phillips thought he'd put the Steelers ahead but the goal was washed out for the goal being dislodged.

The Steelers did take the lead 4:46 into period three through Evan Mosey on the powerplay after some neat passing, and not long after that advantage was extended to two - the Steelers being awarded a penalty shot for a Dyson Stevenson crosscheck 1-on-0, with Tanner Eberle dispatching past Starrett for his second PS goal of the weekend.

A snipe from Colton Yellow Horn brought the Clan back to within one at 53:07, but Justin Hodgman's powerplay goal with 2:42 left effectively ended the game. A late delay of game penalty on Vojta Polák gave Clan a chance to get back to within one again, but when that advantage expired the Czech slotted into the empty net off an unselfish pass from countryman Martin Látal with nine seconds left.