Sheffield Steelers urged to fix their shooting sights in order to remain in Elite League title hunt
A 3-1 defeat at Manchester Storm on Wednesday night was the last thing the Steelers needed just a week after their shock exit from the Challenge Cup at the semi-final stage on home ice against Fife Flyers.
Fox’s team gained some kind of revenge at the weekend when they twice beat the Flyers in the league, securing two 1-0 wins, the second of which was decided by a shootout in Kirkcaldy.
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Hide AdThe Steelers took a fourth-minute lead through Tomáš Pitule in Altrincham against the Storm and outshot their hosts 47-32.
But their struggles to find the net this time proved costly, Manchester getting their noses in front through second-period strikes from Stephen Johnson and Cam Critchlow before the two combined again in the 43rd minute for Johnson to make it 3-1.
The defeat, coupled with a 5-1 home win for Cardiff Devils over Glasgow Clan, saw the Steelers swap places with their Welsh rivals and drop to fourth, four points off leaders Belfast Giants with a game in hand and 13 games remaining.
"We’re having a tough time scoring goals right now,” said Fox.
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Hide Ad"We had 47 shots here, one goal, we had 50 shots on Sunday and zero goals. We need our best players to be our best players right now – we can’t expect our goalie to win us every hockey game.
"I know things go hot and cold during the season but this is a bad time for us not to be finding the back of the net. There are 13 games left here, we’ve got to get this sorted real quickly.”