Steelers come through in final period against Stars
Photo: Derek Black
Sheffield Steelers ended 6-2 winners in Dundee on Sunday evening, although were pushed deep into the third period by the Stars who arguably deserved more than to lose by four goals.
"It was a hard fought 60 minutes, Dundee played a very good game," said Mitchell Balmas, who hit the Steelers' game-winner. "They came out strong and had us on our heels for the first little bit and then we got our legs underneath us and started to push back."
An action-packed first period in Dundee saw the visitors open the scoring 07:16 into the first period, with Brandon Whistle deflecting Kevin Tansey’s shot from the blue line and into the Stars net. The Stars equalised after Drydn Dow’s shot was initially saved by Matt Greenfield, but Jake Elmer found himself alone in front of the Steelers’ net and tucked the puck away at 11:28.
Marc-Oliver Vallerand responded at 13:52, putting the Steelers ahead once again after a cross-ice pass from Mikko Juusola allowed him to put the puck over Jarrett Fiske’s shoulder. However, the Stars were level again when a faceoff win in the offensive zone by Zach Tsekos allowed Brendan Harms to fire the puck over the glove of Greenfield and even the score at 15:10.
A scoreless second period saw plenty of chances for both teams, with both Jarrett Fiske and Matthew Greenfield playing crucial roles in keeping the score line at two apiece. The former thwarted the visitors with serval low pad saves at crucial moments, while a pint-blank stop in front from the letter kept the Steelers on level terms.
A blocked Drydn Dow shot inside the final 10 minutes changed the course of the game. Rather than troubling matt Greenfield, the puck broke kindly for Robert Dowd to set Mitchell Balmas through to beat Fiske and put the Steelers into their third lead of the evening.
"Credit to my linemates, they're doing a very good job putting me in the right situation and they're burying the pucks I'm giving to them so I'm fortunate to play with very good forwards throughout the lineup," added Balmas, who has 10 points in as many games.
Mikko Juusola capitalised on a neutral zone turnover to put the Steelers 4-2 ahead at 56:13 as the game slowly slipped out of reach for the home side. Juusola also finished into an empty net with 1:13 to play to wrap things up, although Colton Saucerman had the last word with a snipe from the blue line that sailed into the back of Fiske's net with 29 seconds remaining.
The win kept the Steelers perfect in the regular season. "We're confident, whenever we can play with our feet, play fast tempo and come for 60 minutes we feel pretty confident going into any game," added Balmas. "Obviously it's still very early in the season so we've got to build off every game and keep getting better."
