Sheffield Steelers hold back Manchester Storm to return to top of Elite League

Aaron Fox’s team fell behind inside two minutes at Altrincham but responded well, the game effectively being won thanks to a six-minute spell in the second period when the visitors’ scored three goals to take a 4-1 lead.

Manchester got it back to 5-3 with just over four minutes of the third period gone but couldn’t find another way past Steelers’ Matt Greenfield, who turned away 36 of the 39 shots on his net.

The Steelers have an excellent chance to extend their lead at the top of the table when they take on second-placed Guildford Flames at a sold-out Shefffield Arena tonight (face-off 7pm).

Always a tough place to play because of the small ice pad, it all started well for the hosts when they went ahead at 1.46 when Tyson Fawcett's shot was parried by Greenfield into the path of Michael Korol who poked the rebound into the net.

The Steelers got themselves level through Evan Mosey at 15.45 but it was the first half of the next period where they excelled.

Danny Kristo went behind the net and then back in front before shooting high past Jeremy Brodeur to make it 2-1 to the visitors at 21.57.

Less than a minute later, the speed of Mosey caught everyone when he doubled his tally at 22.51.

It got worse for the hosts when Tomáš Pitule put the visitors 4-1 ahead at 27:49 as they began to take over, prompting a timeout from Storm head coach Matt Ginn.

Former Steeers’ forward Anthony DeLuca made it a two-goal game twice inside the first few minutes of the third, first making it 4-2 at 42.10 and then 5-3 at 44.23 after Brett Neumann’s quickfire response for Sheffield.

Not surprisingly as they chased the game, Storm enjoyed more chances, but Greenfield remained solid, with Robert Dowd adding an empty net marker inside the last two minutes after Ginn pulled netminder Jeremy Brodeur for the extra skater.