Two-goal Tansey helps Steelers to shutout win

Photo: Dean Woolley

Sheffield Steelers logged their sixth win in a row with a five-goal, shutout win over Coventry Blaze on Saturday night at the Utilita Arena.

Period one ended scoreless between the Steelers and Blaze, although the home side created the better of the chances. Max Golod went through 1-on-0 but couldn’t beat Robson, while a couple of shots just wide, or a good stop from Mat Robson, kept the Steelers at bay. In the final seconds of the period, Nick Seitz was left alone in front of Matt Greenfield but couldn’t quite get his stick on the puck to grab the Blaze the lead.

Four goals in the middle period put the Steelers in complete control through 40 minutes. Having gone 30 minutes without seeing a goal, the home crowd were treated to four in just over eight minutes. Kevin Tansey, playing forward for the night, scored a wonderful solo goal to open the scoring at 30:06, going coast to coast and beating an out-stretched Robson. 71 seconds later, a clever pass from Golod to Daniel Leavens set up the Steelers’ forwards for their second of the night, while at 33:10 Mitchell Balmas fired home from the point to make it 3-0. Sasha Guimond jumped into the play to net the Steelers’ fourth at 38:21 in a period where the home side also saw a shot come back off the inside of Robson’s post.

Tansey netted his second of the game 3:05 into period three which is where the scoring ended, but marked a two-goal night for the stand-in Steelers captain playing as a forward. Greenfield held on for a 29-shot shutout with the Blaze unable to find a way through in the final period.