Steelers thrash Clan to stay 16 points clear

Photo: Dean Woolley

Sheffield Steelers put on a finishing master-class in front of just under 7,000 fans at the Utilita Arena to keep themselves 16 points clear at the top of the Elite League table, and ended a stretch of four games in seven days with maximum points.

The league leaders were by far the faster team out of the blocks, and had themselves up by a pair with under five minutes played. Scott Allen finished from Kevin Tansey's feed with only 43 seconds gone to open the scoring, and then took a pass on the wing and toe-dragged before beating Antti Karjalainen with a well-taken wrist shot to double the lead at 4:03.

New signing Patrick Harper was took quick for Nate Kallen, and deked around Karjalainen to make it 3-0 at 6:45, which ended the Finn's night early as Jason Morgan called his timeout. Mitchell Balmas made it 4-0 to compound Clan's woes before the first period was done.

Marc-Olivier Vallerand scored 19 seconds into period two, and again at 31:57 to put the home side six up without reply. With the Steelers having scored two powerplay goals, Daniel Ciampini then netted shorthanded 1:42 into period three for his team's seventh of the night. Darien Craighead got Clan on the board under a minute later, but the visitors found themselves 9-1 down thanks to Ciampini and Robert Dowd by the 56-minute mark. Late Bryce Reddick and Luke Lynch goals  took Clan's total to three for the evening.