On home ice, after Flames held a 2 goal lead through 20 minutes, Sheffield Steelers replied to eventually take the driver’s seat in the 3rd, but a very late Josh Waller powerplay goal secured a point and forced overtime that solved nothing before penalties sent the extra point to the visiting side of the ledger with a 4-3 defeat of the Spectrum hosts.
Josh Nixon netted the opener at 18:24 and Ethan Strang closed the period with Flames 2 goals to the good thanks to his follow up 11 seconds from break.
Less than a minute into the 2nd, however, Cliff Pu cut Steelers deficit in half. Flames thought they may have re-stored the cushion, but video review confirmed the on ice call of no goal and the game resumed at 2-1 with Steelers enjoying a powerplay against the failed coach’s challenge. Moments after that penalty expired Stephen Harper levelled it at a pair each and it stayed that way through the end of the set.
Just 26 seconds into the 3rd, Steelers took their first lead of the evening off the stick of Evan Jasper, but the Waller powerplay conversion 93 seconds from close made it 3 each and set up the need for tiebreaking measures.
In penalties, Mathieu Gosselin and Mitch Balmas traded goals over the first 5 shots, leaving sudden death shots ahead where each team sent a single player to the line and Balmas secured the decider.
Jake Kupsky made his season debut after return from injury to make 36 saves on 39 shots against Matt Greenfield who kicked away 41 of 44 his way.
Photo: Guildford Flames
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