Steelers edge past gallant Storm

Photos: Dean Woolley

Sheffield Steelers picked up two points to stay seven points clear at the top of the table, but they were made to work extremely hard for them by a Manchester Storm side who arguably deserved more.

In what was a very competitive opening period with chances at both ends, it was the Steelers that opened the scoring just before the buzzer sounded. A giveaway at one end allowed the Steelers to break and Tanner Eberle finished into the top corner with five seconds left on the clock.

Manchester levelled through Mario Puskarich 2:37 into the middle frame before then taking the lead. The visitors’ go-ahead goal owed much to the hard work of Jared Aulin in the corner to turn the puck over, and his feed allowed Frankie Melton to direct into the net for his first Storm goal at 29:01. John Armstrong tied the game up just seven seconds after the Storm had killed off Mathieu Gagnon's penalty at 34:54 to ensure the scores remained tied heading into period three. 

22 seconds into the third Marc-Olivier Vallerand put the home side back ahead, and 13 from the end it was Brendan Connolly who found the empty net to completed a 4-2 win.