Steelers survive Storm fightback to stay perfect on road

Photo: Mark Ferris

Sheffield Steelers continued their unbeaten road streak this season but were given a scare by Manchester Storm on Saturday night in Altrincham. The 2,236-strong crowd saw the hosts come back from two down before the visitors won it late.

As it had done on 1 January, things started well for the Storm but didn't last. Johnny Corniel put a loose puck past Matt Greenfield with only 61 seconds played at the Storm Shelter, but the scores were level by the break off a Marc-Olivier Vallerand powerplay goal with 4:43 left in the opening period.

Two Josh Nicholls goals in the second swung the game in favour of the Steelers. He put his side ahead 68 seconds into the period, before an excellent spin-and-shoot move in the slot saw him extend the lead out to 3-1 at 28:10. 

Corneil picked up a loose puck off a Chase Harrison shot to round Greenfield and finish high 4:15 into period three to bring Manchester back to within one. Some three and a half minutes later, Zack Phillips scored for the second consecutive game with a nice backhanded finish to tie bring Manchester level. The forward almost put his side ahead on the very next play, only for a last-ditch Greenfield save to keep the puck out.

With 7:25 to play, Dominic Cormier shot across a sliding Weninger to put the Steelers back ahead, with the puck trickling through the Storm goalie and agonisingly over the line. Matt Ginn called a timeout with 2:25 to play and pulled his goalie for the extra skater, but only ten seconds later Mikko Juusola beat Joe Morrow in a footrace to a clearance, and slotted into the empty net to settle the game.