SHEFFIELD, U.K. – The Sheffield Steelers recorded two impressive wins over the weekend, firstly on the road at Dundee on Saturday, before beating old foes the Nottingham Panthers on home ice last night.
The Steelers first made the long trip up north of the border to take on the very underrated and much improved Dundee Stars, who were unbeaten in seven games at home before the Steelers came to town.
Steelers record another two wins over the weekend.
The visitors shrugged off the ‘bus legs’ and were first to get on the scoreboard with Jeff Legue firing home his eleventh of the season at 12:35 after a nice pass from Colin Shields to make it 1-0.
Just over two minutes later the hosts were soon back on level terms courtesy of the impressive former Panther Sami Ryhanen with his first of the night at 14:39 to make it 1-1.
The Steelers were dominating the first period and they out shot the Stars by 18-4, with the impressive goalie Nic Riopel being the difference.
There were only 90 seconds in the opening period remaining when Sheffield took the lead once again, this time from NHL lockout player Tom Sestito, who netted from close range at 18:30 making it 2-1.
The Steelers carried their momentum into the second stanza and soon forged a two goal lead with Shawn Limpright finding the back of the net at 23:42 with a well worked effort to make it 3-1.
The ‘Finnish flash’ Sami Ryhanen brought the game to within a goal as he combined nicely with linemate Mike Wirll to net his second of the game at 26:16.
Both team pressed and shared some good chances, only to be kept at bay by the impressive goaltending duo of John DeCaro and Nic Riopel of Sheffield and Dundee respectively.
Dundee came out strongly in the third period and recorded the only goal with Sami Ryhanen completing his hat trick with a nice goal, not too dissimilar to his first effort, at 48:53 to tie the game up.
The visitors pressed and shelled Riopel with some strong shots, but the 23-year-old former AHL’er stood firm to the test, ensuring that the game would be settled in extra time.
Nearly two minutes into overtime and the game was over, as Tylor Michel rifled home his seventh of the season to secure the two points on offer to make it 4-3 to the Steelers.
Jeff Legue in fine form once again over the weekend (Image courtesy of Dean Woolley)
The Steelers took to home ice 24 hours later in a Challenge Cup game against local foes the Nottingham Panthers.
The Steelers took the lead with former Panther Ashley Tait firing a blistering shot high glove side past Craig Kowalski to make it 1-0 at 8:28.
The visitors pressed and were unlucky not to go level in the thirteenth minute with Pat Galivan being denied by a spectacular save from John DeCaro.
The visitors did however restore parity at 18:50 courtesy of NHL lockout player Anthony Stewart who was at hand to pounce on a rebound back post to make it 1-1.
The Panthers came out strong early in the second period and took the lead for the first time in the game when Brandon Benedict forced home a low rebound at 23:04 to make it 2-1.
The Steelers were determined not to be outshone on home ice in front of a bumper crowd and soon levelled the game on the powerplay when Steven Goertzen found the back of the net through traffic to make it 2-2 at 25:43.
The South Yorkshire side pressed and soon regained the lead courtesy of Jason Hewitt who fired a laser high past Kowalski from the right wing after a nice pass from Matt Stephenson to make it 3-2 at 26:07.
No further scoring followed in the second period, in which the Panthers out shot the Steelers by 14-9.
In the 47th minute tempers frayed when Steelers defenceman Drew Fata and Panthers forward Matt Myers had a difference in opinion, before the Panthers forward decided it wouldn’t be wise to fight the pugilistic defenceman and hastily made his way back to the bench.
It was mainly one-way traffic in the third period as the Panthers once again out shot the Steelers by 11-4.
The visitors were gifted a powerplay opportunity in the 50th minute and fully capitalised as Anthony Stewart one timed home a nice slapshot to claim his second of the night and to level the game up at 50:59.
Neither team could find the back of the net in regulation time, ensuring that the game would be settled in overtime.
At 63:08 it was the turn of the Steelers very own Nhl’er to settle the game, as Tom Sestito rolled the puck past a sprawling Craig Kowalski in the Panthers net to make it 4-3 and to claim the two points in the Cup, remaining unbeaten in the competition.
Jason Hewitt celebrates with teammates after his goal against the Panthers (Image courtesy of Dean Woolley)
Steelers Head Coach Ryan Finnerty offered his thoughts after the game, “ It was an important win as we want to win that group and progress to the next round unbeaten if possible. We looked a tired hockey club tonight, the 6 hour plus bus trip back from Dundee didn’t help last help but the guys have played a lot of hockey recently and I saw tonight it was catching up on them a bit,” Finnerty said.
The Steelers will now have a 13-day break due to the Great Britain break with six of the players heading over to Japan.
Contact the author at Scott.antcliffe@prohockeynews.com
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