SHEFFIELD, U.K. – The Sheffield Steelers returned to Elite League action last night and recorded an impressive 4-2 win over Scottish outfit the Fife Flyers.
Steelers back to winning ways over the Flyers
The Steelers were without defenceman James Jorgensen who suffered an ankle injury in Friday’s loss to the Panthers.
Sheffield started brightly at Ice Sheffield and were soon forcing the visitors on the back foot, after several sustained spells of pressure in the Flyers zone.
Sheffield were unlucky not to go ahead in the second minute when Jeff Legue forced a great save from Bryan Pitton in the Flyers goal.
The hosts were first to get on the scoreboard at 7:02 when Rod Sarich found Shawn Limpright all alone in space with a nice pass, and Limpright made a nice move on Pitton and backhanded the puck past him to make it 1-0.
Sheffield piled on the pressure and soon widened the margin when Colin Shields rifled home a one timer slapshot after a nice drop pass from Sarich on the powerplay to make it 2-0.
The Steelers pressed and once again some good work from Sarich who kept the play alive in the Flyers zone found Jason Hewitt with a pass, who then nicely backhanded the puck to Steelers Captain Jonathan Phillips who was unmarked at the back post for a simple tap in to make it 3-0 at 13:14.
Just as the Steelers thought they had the game sewn up before the first period intermission, Fife clawed their way back into the game courtesy of a Kyle Horne wristshot that beat Steelers netminder John DeCaro low 5-hole at 13:26.
Both teams came out strong in the second period, but the Steelers seemed to lack the intensity and passion that was abundant in the first period.
The visitors pressed and brought the game to within a goal at 35:39 when John Dolan found Captain and Flyers leading points scorer Casey Haines all alone at the back post who finished nicely making it 3-2.
Sheffield pressed and shelled Bryan Pitton with 16 shots in the second period, but couldn’t find away past the Flyers Canadian netminder.
Steelers defenceman Rod Sarich had a great game against Fife (Image courtesy of Dean Woolley)
The third period was very much like the second for both teams. Sheffield looked rather flat, with NHL lockout player Tom Sestito underwhelming the bumper crowd with his poor work rate and errant passes.
Sheffield continued to dominate, with the Legue, Shields and Tait line firing on all cylinders and impressing the crowd with some great plays, and they were unlucky not to score with Tait being denied by Pitton at 56:13.
With just over a minute in the game remaining the Flyers pulled piton in favour of an extra skater. The move backfired and Jeff Legue hammered the final nail in the Flyers coffin with an empty net goal at 58:56.
Steelers Head Coach Ryan Finnerty offered his thoughts after the game, “ I’m pleased but not 100% satisfied. No disrespect to Fife, they played a hard game, but I just wish for once we would put a team away when we have the chance, and there was times tonight we had the chance,” Finnerty said.
“We have said it so many times, you can’t give any team a sniff in this league. Fife will hurt you, they have two very good lines. Dundee will be the same on Wednesday, they have the most offensive first line in the league. We have to stay to our game plan for 60 minutes. Do that and we will be fine,” Finnerty added.
Sheffield next face the impressive Dundee Stars on Wednesday (21st November) and may struggle against them if they play like they did against the Flyers.
Contact the author at Scott.antcliffe@prohockeynews.com
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