Steelers bounce back with a win over the Blaze

SHEFFIELD, U.K. – The Sheffield Steelers put a torrid Christmas spell behind them after losing in emphatic fashion to their arch rivals the Nottingham Panthers, by beating the Coventry Blaze, but in a less than convincing display.

Sheffield came out strong in the first period and they soon took the lead at 2:33 when Colt King fired a wrist shot over Peter Hirsch in the Coventry goal, and King was first to pick up his own rebound and calmly slot it past the Danish netminder to make it 1-0 to the hosts.
The Blaze were gifted an equaliser at 8:34 after the Steelers defence failed to clear their zone with Bryan Jurynec capitalising on the opportunity to make it 1-1.
Sheffield pressed and were once again in the lead thanks to former Blaze hotshot Luke Fulghum who was left all alone in front of the net to fire home from a Jonathan Phillips pass at 17:46.
No further scoring followed in the first period, one that Sheffield were out shot by the Blaze 13-11.
Sheffield came out rejuvenated in the second period, and at 21:48 Luke Fulghum doubled his teams lead against his former employers after a good pass from Ryan Finnerty to make it 3-1.
Exactly one minute later Colt King and Jeff Legue were bearing down on Peter Hirsch in a 2 on 1 situation, resulting in King teeing up Legue for a well placed one timer to make it 4-1 for the Steelers.
The Steelers fourth goal was one too much for Blaze Coach Paul Thompson who duly called a timeout to rally his troops.
The tactical nous of Paul Thompson paid off as his team capitalised on a powerplay opportunity at 25:53 when Owen Fussey fired five-hole on John DeCaro after a clever pass from the extremely talented Shea Guthrie, closing the gap to two goals.
Sheffield had their own powerplay opportunities in the game but couldn’t capitalise, which seems to be a recurring theme this season. They certainly have the ability with the likes of Legue, Ramsay, Tait, and King, but are really struggling when it comes to the man advantage.
No further scoring followed in a much-improved second period performance from Sheffield, but question marks still remain about their defence especially after the loss of lynchpin Rod Sarich for the duration of the season.
Both teams exchanged chances in the third period, and the next goal would be crucial to both teams.
It came Sheffield’s way and from an unlikely source in defenceman Matt Stephenson (arguably Sheffield’s best defenceman this season) who skated in from the blueline unevaded to fire home a pass from Ashley Tait at 47:00 to make it 5-2.
Blaze stalwart Greg Owen grabbed his team a goal when he fired home a fortuitous backhand shot which could have been mistaken for a pass at 49:32 beating a shaky John DeCaro in the Sheffield net.
Mike Ramsay put the game beyond doubt at 51:45 after a neat move on a breakaway to fire through the legs of Peter Hirsch (who did well to keep the score respectable) to make it 6-3 and to seal the win for the Steelers.
Steelers Player/Coach Ryan Finnerty shared his thoughts on the game, “I think after the Nottingham fiasco it was imperative that we got the win tonight. We’ve got a long way to go, but we have a team that cares. We got a win tonight but we have to build on it, but we took a step in the right direction tonight,” Finnerty said.
The Steelers face three games in three nights next weekend all on the road as well, to Coventry, Fife and then Edinburgh. With teams around them in the league all making ground on leaders Belfast, nothing more than three wins will do for Ryan Finnerty’s men.
Contact the author at Scott.antcliffe@prohockeynews.com