50-second burst wins it for Steelers

Photo: Dean Woolley

A sold out Utilita Arena saw a two-goal burst in 50 seconds swing this Boxing Day derby in favour of Sheffield Steelers, as they beat Nottingham Panthers by the odd goal in five.

The Panthers had arguably the best chance of the opening period on one of the first plays of the game - Matt Greenfield was called an early double saved to prevent the visitors from taking the lead.

Things remained scoreless for over half an hour, and when the opening goal came it wasn't have the majority of the 9,000+ crowd wanted to see things go. Adam Brady's shot was stopped by Greenfield, but Jeremy Welsh was on hand to deke the Steelers' goalie and finish the rebound from the top of the crease.

The Panthers were good value for their lead and at the other end had Alex Dubeau to thanks for keeping the Steelers at bay. However, a lapse of concentration of an innocent-looking Brett Neumann shot saw the puck trickle through the Panthers' goalie's five-hole and into the net to tie the score with 45 seconds to go before the second intermission.

An excellent cross-zone pass from Mett Petgrave found Sebastian Piché to crash a one-time past Duneau and put the Steelers ahead 3:!5 into period three. 50 seconds later, Scott Allen span and shot from the top of the crease on a rebound from Kevin Schulze's shot to put the hosts two ahead. Tanner Sorenson pulled the Panthers back to within one with 4:26 to play, but the visitors' push for a late equaliser was dealt a huge blow when they took a poor Too Many Men penalty with 93 seconds left on the clock.