Sheffield Steelers went top of the Elite League with an overtime win against Nottingham Panthers in front of a new EIHL record crowd of 9,512 at the Utilita Arena.
“We feel pretty incredible!” began Steelers’ Evan Jasper. “We know it’s a big fixture, we had a record-breaking crowd in here, were all super excited and it was a fun game to play in. We’re really happy to get it done for the fans.”
Nottingham struck first, slipping the puck through the legs of Matt Greenfield to take a first-period lead after a physical opening twenty minutes – David Noel had the goal just 3:04 into the game.
“I felt like we had a good first period, playing fast,” began Panthers’ David Noel, who scored twice. “Then I think we tried to play a different game in the second and the third, being a bit too complicated, and that’s what cost us the game.”
Sheffield levelled in the second thanks to excellent work from Reece Kelly, whose board battle win set up Robert Dowd to find Evan Jasper in the slot. Jasper snapped the puck past Kevin Carr to make it 1-1 with just under two minutes to play in the second.
“There were two great plays by two great players on the team to set me up there, and I was happy to be able to get us on the board” added Jasper.
Johnny Curran restored Nottingham’s lead early in the third, marking his Panthers debut with a finish that found its way past Greenfield. The game then turned on its head with two Sheffield goals in 36 seconds. Derek Gentile set up Samuel Tremblay at the far post to tie it, before Mikko Juusola put the Steelers ahead for the first time.
David Noël fired through traffic from the point to level the game again at 56:53, and the Panthers had good late chances to win it, but the teams headed to overtime tied.
“I jumped into the rush and tried to create an option for my forwards. We wanted to put pucks on the net a lot. Greenfield is an excellent goalie, so we have to be in front of his eyes” said Noel of his second goal.
In the extra period, Robert Dowd skated in and lifted a backhand past Carr at 61:12 to secure the Steelers’ Boxing Day victory.
“We were ecstatic! It was a great play by Dowdy, your captain always shines in the biggest moments,” continued Jasper. “Every time you win a game, if you lose the next one the points basically cancel each other out. Every game is important here.”
The teams will meet tomorrow in Nottingham.
“It’s just about us playing our game for 60 minutes. We’ve done it this season against this team, we have a great team and we can do it again. But if we don’t play for 60, we’re giving them a chance” concluded Noel.
With EIHL match report
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