Steelers respond to split series in Belfast

Photo: Darren Kidd

24 hours after losing 5-1 to Belfast Giants, Sheffield Steelers fought back to take a three-goal victory on Saturday night and split the weekend series. 

In front of almost 5,000 fans at the SSE Arena, JJ Piccinich gave the Giants the lead inside three minutes on the powerplay. However, unlike Friday night the Steelers didn't fall further behind and hit back with two goals in a ten-minute spell. John Armstrong tied the game at 4:08 in close after great work from Marc-Olivier Vallerand.

Martin Látal's pace then allowed him to put the Steelers into their first lead of the series at 14:47, however Ben Lake tied the game 65 seconds before the end of the period with a tip on Kevin Raine's shot.

Tanner Eberle got on the end of Nico Feldner's pass across the front of Tyler Beskorowany's net to put the Steelers 3-2 ahead at 26:46, and that's how the score stayed going into period three -in part down to some excellent netminding from Beskorowany to keep his side just a goal behind.

The Steelers gave themselves some breathing room with a fourth goal inside the final ten minutes. Adrian Saxrud Danielsen's excellent stretch pass set Jackson while through on goal, and he calmly beat Beskorowany high on his backhand to make it 4-2 at 50:39. Rob Dowd fired into the empty net with 23 seconds left after the Steelers had survived a late minor on Antonín Bořuta.

The result leaves Sheffield two points behind with a game in hand, however Belfast have the better tie-breaker on regulation wins and are therefore effectively three points ahead.