Sheffield Steeldogs gain swift revenge as Hull Pirates maintain dominance over Leeds Chiefs

The win went some way to making up for the 4-3 defeat suffered at the hands of the same opponents the previous evening in Buckinghamshire.

The Steeldogs went 2-0 ahead inside the first 10 minutes at Ice Sheffield through Ryan Johnson and Jan Danecek.

But the Lightning were level before the end of the first period through strikes from Cale Tanaka and Tom Carlon.

After a goalless second period, the visitors went ahead just 36 seconds into the third through Tomas Kana, although Jack Brammer restored parity just over two minutes later.

The visitors again went ahead, this time through Kana’s second of the night but, yet again, the hosts would not let go, Vladimir Luka forcing overtime and then a shootout which was sealed by successful efforts from James Spurr and Luka.

The previous evening at Milton Keynes proved to be a similarly tight affair, the hosts edging out Ben Morgan's team with a 54th-minute game-winning goal from Liam Stewart.

Prior to that point there had been little to choose between the two well-matched line-ups, Lightning going ahead at 2.04 through Stewart before Carlon added a second on the power play at 16.59.

The Steeldogs replied with a goal on the man advantage themselves through Luka and were level shortly before the halfway point with a second power play goal of the evening, this time from Jan Danecek.

Carlon's second of the night in the 43rd minute saw the hosts go ahead once more but Luka was able to match his opponent's feats by doubling his tally - again on the power play - at 53.21.

But the sting in the tail wasn't long coming when the ever-dangerous Stewart pounced just 26 seconds later for what proved to be the winning strike. After the following night's rematch, the Lightning remain in sixth spot, with the Steeldogs just a point behind.

Going into the final period in the Yorkshire derby between Hull Pirates and Leeds Chiefs, there was all to play for with the hosts 2-1 ahead.

But three goals in the first four minutes of the third for the Pirates ended the the visitors’ hopes of a first win over their East Yorkshire rivals, three more goals arriving in the final five minutes and Hull player-coach Jason Hewitt ending the night with a hat-trick.

It was the Chiefs who took the lead in Hull, Liam Charnock getting on the board at 11.21 off a feed from new import signing Patrik Valcak.

Hull struck back, however, before the end of the period through Lee Bonner and went ahead through another goal on the man advantage just before the halfway point through Hewitt.

That was how it stayed until the second break but, unfortunately for the Chiefs, an early second goal of the night from Hewitt proved pivotal, the hosts quickly surging 5-1 ahead with further strikes from former Chiefs forward James Archer and the returning Matty Davies.

The Chiefs had their chances to reduce the deficit but the game was gone, insult being added to injury in the final few minutes with new signing Matthew Bissonnette making it 6-1 at 54.09.

Gospel was pulled from the firing line to be replaced by Miles Finney, but in the final minute, further gloss was added to the scoreline when Hewitt struck his hat-trick goal, Sam Towner also getting in on the act with 23 seconds remaining.

Both teams had lost the previous night, Hull losing out 5-2 at Basingstoke, while Leeds went down 4-2 to leaders Telford.