SHEFFIELD, U.K. – The Sheffield Steelers continued their woeful ways on Saturday night with another tough loss to their fierce rivals the Nottingham Panthers. Losing to their old foes at anytime is gut wrenching, but being shutout 3-0 and losing to them twice in a row is something that the reigning Elite League champions are not accustomed to.
50/50 weekend once again for the Steelers
A goalless first period with both teams having eight shots apiece would normally signify a possible enthralling and even game for the duration, or you would think! But Nottingham stepped up a gear and came out firing in the second stanza with Brandon Benedict edging the hosts ahead with a neat goal at 27:04.
Panther’s workhorse Marc Levers doesn’t score often, but when he does they are often special. And that is one superlative you could have used to describe his fine wrist shot goal at 35:25, which any NHL sniper would have been proud of.
The Panthers pressed and Steelers goaltender John DeCaro faced a barrage of shots in a period he was no likely glad to see the back of, with the host’s outshooting the Steelers 15-3.
The Steelers tried to claw their way back into the game, but some fine goaltending from Craig Kowalski kept the visitors at bay.
Steelers power forward Colt King soon endeared himself to the Panthers faithful when he was ejected from the game for abuse of an official after taking a couple of penalties out of frustration which were duly deserved at 48:24.
Sheffield were playing much better in the third period and looked to make a vital comeback.
With less than a minute to goal Sheffield pulled DeCaro in favour of an extra attacker, and Nottingham’s Matt Myers took advantage of this fact, at 59:20 when he sailed home an empty net goal to make it 3-0. The score line stood and the Panthers were once again celebrating at Sheffield’s expense. The win ensured that Nottingham staked a place in the Challenge Cup semi final, a piece of silverware which they seem to have some relative success in, unlike their domestic campaign.
Another couple of big goals for Legue (Picture courtesy of Sheffield Steelers)
A much-improved performance was essential if the Steelers were to progress in the Challenge Cup, and that’s what they got when they played the Cardiff Devils 24 hours later at Ice Sheffield.
Max Birbraer got the visitors off to the perfect start when he slotted home a rebound after a Jeff Pierce shot on the powerplay at 4:12 to make it 1-0.
Sheffield restored parity less than three minutes later thanks to stand-in Captain Jeff Legue fired home a trademark powerplay goal after a good feed from Ashley Tait to make it 1-1.
Sheffield edged ahead for the first time in the game on the powerplay once again at 14:11, with Colt King netting after a goalmouth scramble to make it 2-1 to the hosts.
No further scoring followed, ensuring Sheffield were the happier of the two teams at the first period interval.
Sheffield widened the margin once again in the second period as Lee Esders rifled home a shot via Cardiff Defenceman Mark Richardson’s stick to make it 3-1 at 24:33.
Both teams pressed but it would be Cardiff who would score the next goal thanks to Scott Dobben who netted his sixth goal of the season on the powerplay at 32:26 to bring the game to within one goal.
The Steelers showed a lot more passion and commitment tonight than they had in the last week or so and this showed, with Jeff Legue netting shorthanded at 37:28 after firing home a rebound from a Mike Ramsay shot, to make it 4-2.
Just over a minute later Brad Voth silenced the Sheffield crowd as he netted on the powerplay at 38:48 to reduce the deficit to one.
Both teams pressed in the final period, one which the Devils outshot the Steelers 16-8, but with less than two minutes remaining Colt King put the game beyond doubt with a blistering slapshot at 58:21 to secure the two points for his team and the Man of The Match Award for himself.
Sheffield Steelers Player/Coach Ryan Finnerty shared his thoughts after the weekends games, “ Tonight, and in fact the whole weekend we played a lot better and most importantly we worked a lot harder. Am I happy, well I am a lot happier than I was. We still have a long way to go but we are heading in the right direction. We got a reaction after last weekend. We came to play and we came to work hard and that’s all I can ask for”, Finnerty said.
Sheffield next play host to Dundee on Saturday (29th of October) before travelling to Coventry for the first time this season 24 hours later, both in League action.
Contact the author at Scott.antcliffe@prohockeynews.com
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