It was a second Scottish road trip in a row for the Steelers as they headed North once again to take on the Glasgow Clan tonight and Dundee Stars tomorrow.
The Steelers were on a high after cruising into the Challenge Cup semi-final with victory over the Cardiff Devils on Wednesday night and two victories on their road trip last week.
Coach, Aaron Fox called on the same squad as Wednesday night with Mitchell and Raska missing out once again and Waburton coming in to backup Matt Greenfield.
The Steelers were in a great position come the end of the first period and they lead by two goals courtesy of efforts from Evan Mosey and Daniel Ciampini.
The first goal from Evan Mosey coming early in the period at (1.46) after the Glasgow Clan had made the brighter start to the game. But Piche’s shot from the blue line was tipped in by Evan Mosey for his first goal in league action this season.
Daniel Ciampini then made it two at (10.59) as he was the quickest to react to a loose puck after Scott Allen had put a shot in on Muse but the puck was sitting between his pads and Ciampini sent it home. Ciampini adding to his 5 goals and 17 assists in league play to date.
The Clan certainly had their chances throughout the period as Greenfield made some good saves and was helped out when needed by his d-men and his post as the Clan rang one off the iron inbetween the Steelers goals.
The Steelers would have been upbeat with their first period effort and will be happy with the two goal advantage as they headed into the second period.
Both teams added a goal in the second period as the Steelers continued with a two-goal advantage into the third period.
The teams swapped penalties early in the period as Dowd was called for hooking before Kevin Massy headed to the box shortly afterwards for holding. Neither team could add to the scoresheet on shortened powerplays.
Matt Petgrave then put the Steelers three goals ahead at (29.42) as Kristo laid the puck off to him and he skated into the slot and put is wrister in on Muse which took a deflection off a Clan stick and Muse was beaten.
The teams then went back and forth for the remainder of the period. The best opportunity coming via a double chance for Brett Neumann as a stretch pass opened up the Clan defence and Muse saved the first effort with his pad before the puck was worked back to Neumann and he sent his second effort wide.
The Glasgow Clan got themselves back within two at (39.22) after some good work from Gabriel Chabot finding his way around Nevalainen before finding Steven McParland in-front of Greenfield’s blue paint and he tipped it home.
The Steelers would still have felt in a good position heading into the last twenty minutes of regulation as they looked for their third win in Scotland in 8 days.
And the third win was secured in the third as the Steelers added three goals to the Clan’s two for another comfortable victory.
In a crazy three minutes both teams swapped two goals apiece as the Steelers created a three-goal advantage twice before being cancelled out by the Clan on both occasions.
Brandon Whistle added the Steelers fourth at (43.34) as the Steelers fourth line went to work pinning the Clan into their zone and Nevalainen found Whistle out in-front to fire home into an open net.
19 seconds later and the Clan hit back through Kevin Massy at (43.53) as he skated in from the left wing and went five-hole on Greenfield.
The Steelers were then back three in-front 39 seconds later, this time via Brett Neumann who took the Clan zone and sniped one top corner on one knee past Muse.
But the Clan wouldn’t give up and pulled it back to within two at (46.31) as Greenfield lay on the ice with the puck on his goaline and it was Mitch Jones who jumped on it the quickest to see it home. The play was sent for review and after a lengthy discussion by the referees was given as a good goal.
After the Steelers saw off a Davey Phillips hooking penalty, John Muse was pulled by the Clan after a timeout and Scott Allen went to work winning the puck back at the Steelers blue line and made no mistake finding the empty net.
Another stellar night for Steelers netminder Matt Greenfield who saved 40 out of 43 shots faced for a 93.02% save percentage, but it was Brett Neumann who picked up the Steelers Man of the Match award for his 1+1 on the night.
A good night for the Steelers who moved up to second in the league table as they chase down the Guildford Flames who put five past the Blaze tonight in 1st leg Challenge Cup action.
The Steelers now move onto Dundee tomorrow to take on the Stars who travel back from a loss in Cardiff tonight.
We are back at home on Wednesday taking on the Dundee Stars again as we have our annual Teddy Toss night. £8 all tickets. 7.30pm face-off – See you there!
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