Finnerty piles on misery for Steelers

The 29-year-old forward spent two-and-a-half successful years with Steelers, winning two play-off trophies and an Elite League title.

During his time in South Yorkshire, Finnerty played more than 130 games, scoring 116 points, including 48 goals.

He proved a popular figure among fans but, after failing to reach agreement with Steelers' management over returning for a third full season, returned to North America.

After a short spell with Bloommington Prairie Thunder in the IHL, Finnerty returned to the UK with Cardiff last month.

His first match against his former club saw him return to Cardiff empty-handed after Steelers won 3-2 at Sheffield Arena.

But with a little over a minute of overtime played in last night's clash in Cardiff Bay, Finnerty struck to make it 4-3 and leave Steelers with just one point from the weekend – following a 5-2 home defeat to Coventry Blaze on Saturday – and extended their losing streak to five games since Christmas.

Earlier, Steelers – who drafted in replacement goaltender Dan Green for the weekend following an injury to No 1 stopper Andrew Verner – had staged a stirring fightback after going down to first-period strikes from Mark Smith and Brad Voth.

Jeff Legue halved the deficit in the 21st minute and then levelled two minutes later before Brad Cruikshank capped a fine second period for the visitors with a 37th-minute strike.

All that work was undone four minutes before the end of the third period, however, when Wes Jarvis levelled for the home side to set up Finnerty's heroics in overtime.

Although the latest setbacks and two wins for Edinburgh Capitals have seen his side slip to second-from-bottom in the table, Steelers' head coach Dave Matsos was happy to see a better work ethic from his team.

"We didn't get what we deserved over the two games, but now I can see the team work ethic back, that's something we can build on," said Matsos.

"We should be higher up the table and in among the top four challenging – definitely.

"But there's still a lot of hockey left in this season and I think we'll have a big say in things.

"One day we will get what we deserve and some team will be on the end of a beating - hopefully on Wednesday."

On Saturday, Steelers were sunk on home ice by Coventry follwing a hat-trick for Luke Fulghum.

The visitors enjoyed a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period after Joey Talbot's 11th-minute strike was sandwiched between goals from Adam Calder and Jonathan Weaver.

Fulghum grabbed his first at the halfway point and although Talbot levelled for a second time almost two minutes later, Fulghum's two goals in the third settled matters.