SHEFFIELD, U.K. – The Sheffield Steelers quest to retain the Elite League title looked more convincing, after two impressive wins over the Braehead Clan and the Nottingham Panthers, whom both coincidentally share the same owner in Neil Black.
Steelers claim another valuable four points in the League
The Steelers travelled north of the border on Saturday night to take on the Braehead Clan who are currently placed sixth in the League standings.
The visitors set the early tempo with some good shots testing Braehead goaltender Jaakko Suomalainen who stood firm to the test.
Sheffield shrugged off the ‘bus legs’ in the second period and were first off the mark at 20:33 thanks to Player/Coach Ryan Finnerty. The Steelers number 23 netted on the powerplay after a Jeff Legue shot bounced off the boards into Finnerty’s path, and he made no mistake in putting the puck away ensuring his team took a 1-0 lead.
Shortly after Sheffield’s opener Braehead were back on the board, or so they thought. A goalmouth scramble in front of Sheffield goaltender John DeCaro saw the puck cross the line, only to be waved off by Andy Carson, who judged the puck to have been kicked in.
The Steelers pressed and soon doubled their advantage at 24:26 after a sublime drop pass from Ashley Tait found Steelers stand in skipper Jeff Legue, who duly rifled home a one timer passed Suomalainen to make it 2-0.
With just over two minutes later the same two players linked up once again after an initial Tait shot was saved, but the ensuing rebound fell nicely to Legue who was on hand back post to fire home Steelers third goal of the game.
Sheffield piled further misery onto the Clan fans, when Jeff Legue netted his hat trick marker in his trademark way (a one timer on the powerplay) after a good pass from Steve Birnstill teeing Legue up nicely to make it 4-0 at 35.47.
Legue’s strike was to be the final goal of the period, one in which Sheffield outshot the hosts 13-6.
Braehead came out stronger in the third period as Sheffield ran into penalty trouble once again, something which is all to familiar to the fans this season.
The Clan’s Kyle Bruce ran into some trouble of his own after he was assessed a match penalty for a check to the head on Colt King. The hit saw the Steelers player leave the ice for temporary treatment after a substantial cut above the eye.
Braehead were given a glimmer of hope after Mike Bayrack pounced on a defensive mishap by Steven Birnstill who fanned on a simple breakout pass, gifting the Clan forward Bayrack, who fired five-hole past John DeCaro at 53:13.
Sheffield showed their indiscipline once again by picking up three minor penalties in a three-minute spell, gifting the Clan with a 5-on-3 powerplay. Bayrack was on hand once again for the Clan to fire home his second of the night with just 16 seconds remaining.
The clock ticked down, and Sheffield claimed the two points at the final buzzer winning the game 4-2, a scoreline which somewhat flattered the Clan.
Jason Hewitt leaps on Mark Thomas after his Overtime winner (Picture courtesy of the Sheffield Steelers)
The Steelers then played host to their old foes the Nottingham Panthers, less than 24-hours later, with the latter of the two teams enjoying a night off before the vital showdown.
The Steelers got off to the perfect start, with Ashley Tait netting high past Kowalski after a neat pass in the corner from Jeff Legue to make it 1-0 after just 48 seconds.
The same two players combined once again for the Steelers second goal when they were bearing down on Kowalski 2-on-1, Legue played a nice pass into the path of Tait who fired high over Kowalski’s shoulder to make it 2-0, shorthanded at 9:36.
The turning point in the game came 49 seconds into the second period. A hit on the boards from the Steelers Matt Stephenson on Stephen Lee caused the pair to settle their differences by dropping the gloves with neither of the combatants claiming a clear-cut victory in the bout. The only winner that came from the fight was the Panthers team who went onto score twice in the space of two minutes to tie the game up at 2-2.
The first of the goals came from the flashy Jordan Fox, who re-directed home a Danny Meyers shot to make it 1-0 at 22:09.
Meyers turned from provider to goal scorer just 78 seconds later when he pinched in from the blueline evading the Steelers defence, and he fired home after a pass from behind the net from David Beauregard to make it 2-2.
The gloves were soon off once again, this time it was Jason Hewitt and Matt Francis (of Sheffield and Nottingham respectively) crossing each other of their Christmas card list in a short but spirited fight, with neither of the pugilists claiming the honours.
Both teams came out firing in an evenly matched third period, but it was battle of the goaltenders with Sheffield’s John DeCaro and Nottingham’s Craig Kowalski taking centre stage.
The game had to be settled in overtime, and the unlikeliest of sources, in Sheffield’s Mark Thomas skated end-to-end netting a fine wrist shot that Alexander Ovechkin would have been envious of at 61:01, sending the 6077 in attendance into raptures.
Rod Sarich expected to be on the sidelines for 3 months after a kidney operation (Picture courtesy of the Sheffield Steelers)
Thomas earned the Man of The Match plaudits and his name in Steelers folklore history after the sublime game winner.
Steelers Player/Coach Ryan Finnerty spoke about Mark Thomas’s winner and the game, “We are all delighted for Tomo (Mark Thomas) scoring the OT winner but I hope it doesn’t over shadow the great work Ash Tait did for us early on. Come the big nights Ash keeps coming to part and delivering. He knew the start was key for us, he knew we had to get on top early and he delivered big style,” Finnerty said. The Steelers travel to Denmark on Thursday to take part in the 2011-12 IIHF Continental Cup, but will be without defenceman Rod Sarich who had to undergo an emergency operation today (Monday 21 st November) after a hit in the game led to some bleeding of the kidney. The operation saw Sarich lose between 10-15% of his kidney, and he won’t be expected to return for at least three months.
Contact the author at Scott.antcliffe@prohockeynews.com
