Steelers march on with 12th straight win

Photo: Dean Woolley

Sheffield Steelers continued to lead the way in the Elite League, logging their 12th straight win with a 3-2 victory over Glasgow Clan. A crowd of 9,368 saw the home side complete a double over the Clan after a Friday night win in Braehead.

The Steleers were out of the blocks fast and led inside 90 seconds - Patrick Watling putting them ahead with 1:24 played. A 19-second collapse ultimately cost Clan the game in the opening period. Colton Saucerman jumped into the play and was beautifully set up by Marc-Olivier Vallerand to double the Steelers' lead at 6:24, followed by Josh Nicholls scoring at 6:43 to make it 3-0 with less than seven minutes played. Jason Morgan used his timeout to steady his time after the goal. 

Whatever coach Morgan said did have the desired effect, and Clan were on the board 4:37 before the first intermission through Gary Haden. 

The goal game on a powerplay for the visitors after former Clan player Zach Vinnell was ejected for Spearing, but they took two minors themselves thereafter to render the remainder of the major penalty useless.

Period two was penalty stricken and ended without goals, although the Steelers did think they had added a fourth but the goal was washed out. 

In the final period, Morgan pulled Jake Kielly with 1:33 left to force a way back into the game for his team, and they obliged - however, Charlie COmbs' goal 11 seconds before the end turned out to be too little, too late for Clan who slipped to a 3-2 defeat.