Bus legs were no problem for the Steelers tonight as they responded to a six hour bus trip up to Dundee like a simple trip from Nottingham to Manchester.
After holding the Stars at bay throughout the first and second period, heading into the third leading by one goal, the fresher Steelers side ran riot over a Stars side which had played three games in four nights by scoring 5 goals in the final twenty minutes.
Coach, Aaron Fox called on the same squad as last night which took victory over the Manchester Storm and picked a starting six of netminder Matthew Greenfield, defenders Matt Petgrave and Nikalas Nevalainen, with forwards Brett Neumann, Scott Allen and Daniel Ciampini.
Although the Steelers had the better of the first period, neither team could put a name on the scoresheet with both netminders, Greenfield and Svensson being solid when called upon. The Steelers killing off the only penalty of the period in the 11th minute as Pitule was called for slashing.
The Steelers would head into the third period up by one goal as Ciampini added to his opening goal from last night only 52 seconds into the period. Ciampini took a quick shot from between the haskmarks and it was just too much to handle for Svensson as it sneaked under his arm and over the line. Petgrave and Nevalainen with the assists.
However, the lead lasted for only 30 seconds as Semjonovs finished his chance well, high on Greenfield.
The Steelers were back in the lead in the 25th minute courtesy of speedster, Martin Latal who picked up a loose puck from a Raska face-off win and beat Svensson before he had time to react.
The Steelers then ran riot in the third period with five unanswered goals. Brett Neumann getting on the scoresheet twice in a row. The first coming at (41.12), assisted by Pitule and Schulze after a great session of forechecking coughed up a puck for Neumann to finish well.
Neumann’s second goal then came at (48.49) as Ciampini’s shot was too hot to handle for Svensson and Neumann was in the right place to slot home into the empty net.
There wasn’t enough time to read out the scorers name of the fourth goal before the fifth goal was scored by Pitule straight from the face-off as he broke through the Stars defence and finished well top corner.
The sixth goal went in at (53.48) by the in-form Scott Allen who added to his goal last night with a beautiful tip infront of Svensson. The pass to tip coming from Petgrave with Ciampini picking up the second assist.
It took only 39 second for the Steelers to find their seventh as Piche finished off a great win with an absolute rocket from near the blue line to beat backup netminder Preece before he had time to get his glove up.
For his work, particularly in the first and second period, Matt Greenfield picked up the Steelers Man Of the Match award with Mac Howlett picking up the Stars award.
A four point weekend split over the Challenge Cup and League returned for the Steelers as we head back up North on Thursday to take on the Glasgow Clan before heading to Nottingham on Sunday. We look forward to you joining us!
Photos – Derek Black (Dundee Stars)
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