Sheffield Steelers were beaten for the second time in three home games, with Glasgow Clan producing an excellent road performance to come away 3-2 winners from the Utilita Arena.
It was a momentous night for Clan’s Robert Lachowicz, who played in his 1,000th game in all EIHL competitions.
“We feel really good! We didn’t have a great game yesterday in Guildford, and knew this would be a big challenge in what’s a very hard place to come and win,” said Lachowicz. “We learned from our mistakes yesterday and showed what we can do when we play the game the right way.”
While the Steelers had more possession in the opening period, Clan probably created the better chances. Brayden Burke saw Matt Greenfield get a piece of his breakaway attempt early on, but it was the visitors who opened the scoring when Hugo Roy’s shot beat Greenfield five-hole from the slot at 14:39.
The Steelers levelled in the final minute of the opening period. Good work in the corner to retrieve the puck by Mikko Juusola allowed Derek Gentile to find Dominic Cormier, who was left unmarked at the far post to slot home with 55 seconds remaining in the first.
“I don’t think we were as sharp as we needed to be tonight,” said Steelers’ Mitchell Balmas. “They played a good road game, but we have to figure out a way to get our legs here at home and make our own ice count.”
Stephen Harper gave the home side the lead at 23:33 when he poked home a loose puck in front of Sami Aittokallio – their fourth powerplay goal of the weekend.
That lead, which could have been extended, was wiped out shortly before the intermission as this time it was Clan’s turn to score last in a period. Deven Sideroff was sent through on Greenfield by Colton Poolman and beat the Steelers’ netminder low to level the game with 67 seconds remaining in period two.
Just 49 seconds into the third, Clan were back in front. Good work to turn the puck over in the Steelers’ zone led to Tristin Langan setting up Brayden Burke for an excellent one-time finish past a helpless Greenfield.
The Steelers applied pressure as they looked for an equaliser but failed to create anything that seriously troubled Aittokallio. A Nick Seitz snapshot drew an important save, while in the final stages, with six skaters on, Dominic Cormier’s shot from the point went through traffic but bounced off the Finnish goalie.
“The luxury of this sport is that we can wipe this game away pretty quickly and get ready for Wednesday,” continued Balmas. “We have to fix some things now and make sure we’re ready for Wednesday against Nottingham.”
For Lachowicz, it was a perfect end to an emotional night. “You have to believe your team has a chance of winning trophies – if you don’t, you shouldn’t be on the team,” he added. “It was huge for us to keep the coaches and the core of the team together from last season. We’ve seen in the past that teams who keep groups of players together go on to achieve success. If we play like we did tonight, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be in the fight for silverware.
“The boys dug deep for me tonight. It’s definitely a game I’ll remember for a very long time.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.