DeCaro rested as desperate Flyers pay Steelers a visit

British back-up netminder Geoff Woolhouse steps into DeCaro’s shoes, with Steelers’ player-coach Ryan Finnerty opting to bring in former Hull Stingrays’ second-choice Andy Jaszczyk as cover on the Steelers’ bench.

DeCaro’s absence will allow Finnerty to ice his other 10 imports, meaning defenceman Nick Duff and forward Neil Clark, the two players who have taken it in turns to sit out as the ‘spare’ import in recent weeks, will both feature.

“With us having so many games of late, we felt we’d give John the night off completely,” said Finnerty. “He has been battling with a couple of minor injury niggles as well so it will be a chance for him to rest.

“But in Geoff, we’ve got somebody coming in who we know we can trust completely and who hasn’t let us down at all this season.”

Steelers will look to bounce back following Saturday night’s abject 5-1 defeat at Nottingham Panthers, a result which ended Steelers’ four-game winning streak. Finnerty’s team have struggled in recent games but have, for the most part, found ways to grind out wins to keep them in contention for the regular season title with current leaders Belfast Giants.

Despite Saturday’s defeat to the Panthers, the Steelers are still in control of their own destiny, sitting nine points behind Belfast but with five games in hand.

Crucially, the top two teams have to meet each other again three times, the first of those meetings coming in South Yorkshire on Friday, March 2 before the Steelers travel to Belfast for back-back games on March 16-17.

But, Finnerty acknowledges that there are plenty of other potential pitfalls along the way, including bottom club Fife who will arrive in South Yorkshire desperate to preserve their outside chances of making the post-season play-offs in their first Elite League season.

They currently six points adrift of eighth-placed Edinburgh Capitals, who are in freefall having lost their last 11 games. But Todd Dutiaume’s team only have 12 games to extend their season and Finnerty expects them to provide a tough obstacle on Tuesday night.

“We’ve got to make sure we get back to winning ways as soon as possible,” said Finnerty.

“It’s the tail-end of the season and we knew these games were coming up. We have alwways responded well to a defeat and I think we’ve only lost back-to-back games once this season.

“Fife are coming here to make life difficult for us because they want to make the play-offs. They’ve pushed us hard almost every time we’ve played them and, make no mistake, we won’t be taking them lightly.

“They are honest, they always work hard all over the ice and in Zemlak have a top goaltender who can win them games.”

Fife have come a long way since their first encounter with Steelers back in October when Finnerty’s team won 5-0. All subsequent games between the two sides have been tight affairs, with Steelers winning by the odd goal on both their visits so far to Kirkcaldy. The last meeting in South Yorkshire, on December 17, saw Steelers win 5-3.

Steelers’ schedule remains as hectic as ever during the coming week, with three further games in as many days at the weekend, the first seeing them travel to Braehead Clan on Friday night before staying in Scotland for a last encounter of the regular season with Fife the following night. They finish off their weekend with a home game against Edinburgh (5pm).

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Twitter: @philarra