Hewitt goal caps Steelers victory

The 4-3 triumph leaves Steelers in the driving seat for a third regular season title, leaving them two points clear of second-placed Cardiff Devils. Belfast are now three points behind but, like Gerad Adams’s in-form team, have a game in hand.

It may not have been the smoothest of performances and, for a short while at least, it looked like the Steelers - going into the encounter on the back of a three-game losing streak - were destined to suffer a potentially fatal blow to their title hopes.

But player-coach Ben Simon was quick to praise the character of his players, particularly after they were forced to come from behind to pick up their 40th league win, having initially let their own two-goal lead slip.

“We’ve been through a lot this year and I think the game almost epitomised our season,” said Simon. “We had a great start, just like at the beginning of the year, it was a suspect second period when we ran into a bit of penalty trouble but, in the third we found our way.

“We’ve worked hard for eight months to put ourselves in this position and there’s no reason to not just dig in for three more games. It’s 180 minutes of hockey.

“At the moment, this feels like the biggest win of the season for us. But then we head to Newcastle on Sunday and that then becomes our biggest game of the season.”

After this weekend’s visit to Whitley Bay to face second-bottom Vipers, the Steelers will then take on the Braehead Clan in a season-ending double-header the following weekend.

Steelers could not have enjoyed a better first period in front of a boisterous crowd of 1,500 and found themselves ahead at the first interval thanks to two powerplay markers.

Joe Talbot was first to find a way past Stephen Murphy when he benefited from some good work by Ashley Tait and Rod Sarich at 9.40. The impressive Jeff Legue was then on hand to double his side’s advantage with his 38th goal of the season at 18.41.

The second period was dominated by minor penalties as both sides struggled to exert any superiority but, given what was at stake for both sides, it’s no surprise the game was often scrappy.

It was while the Steelers were trying to see off a 5-on-3 powerplay that the Giants halved the deficit. Mike Hoffman’s weak shot looked to be heading well wide until it struck the skate of the unfortunate Mark Thomas and deflected in past Ervins Mustukovs.

Belfast created more chances throughout the night, eventually out-shooting their hosts by more than two to one, and they were keen to test Mustukovs at every opportunity.

But it wasn’t until the 43rd minute that they hauled themselves level before going ahead two minutes later.

Brett Hemingway levelled at 42.22 - again on the powerplay - and just as the Steelers were regrouping, Michael Jacobsen fired home through traffic from the blue line to put the visitors into the lead for the first time.

Desperation started to creep into Sheffield’s game after they went behind but, after Tait saw his shot prodded away by Murphy, Talbot was quick to pounce and nudge the ball under the right pad of the Giants netminder at 48.46.

The home fans erupted and were rewarded even further six minutes later when, following good work around the back of the goal by Derek Campbell, the puck eventually found it’s way through to Hewitt, who scrambled it home for the crucial game-winning goal.