Cliff Pu shows the way forward for Sheffield Steelers in Challenge Cup
AARON FOX got the response he was looking for from his Sheffield Steelers team as they got their Challenge Cup campaign back on track with a convincing win at Coventry Blaze.
The Steelers’ head coach admitted last week that his players were lacking confidence in front of goal following three home defeats in four games, the last one being Wednesday’s 4-2 loss against Nottingham Panthers.
But Cliff Pu blasted a first-period hat-trick to establish early control at the SkyDome Arena on Sunday night, the Steelers eventually running out deserved 5-1 winners.
It was swift revenge for the Steelers, having been shut out at home to Coventry two weeks earlier.
As well as enjoying some clinical finishing in front of net, Fox was also pleased with his special teams – killing off six penalties, while also converting two of their three power play opportunities.
“I liked our game,” said Fox. “We came out really well and Cliff there with his three goals got us off to a great start – we’d been lacking in terms of scoring goals lately, so that gave our group confidence.
“There were a lot of special teams and we were 6 for 6 on the PK. Coventry’s power play has been elite the first part of the year at their place, so it was a focus for us to stay out of the box and we went 6 for 6 with a shorthanded goal
“Our power play was 2 for 3, so we had good 5 on 5 and good special teams and that is usually going to be a good recipe for success in this league.
“It was a good bounce back night for us. We knew how important this fixture was with the Cup standings in the group and our boys responded well and everyone was on it.”
After Pu’s triple blast inside the first 13 minutes, the Steelers extended their advantage on the power play at 27.54 through an Evan Jasper strike
Grant Mismash gave the Blaze faint hopes of a comeback with a reply just 13 seconds before the end of the second period, but the only goal to arrive in the third was from the stick of Mitchell Balmas, scoring on the man advantage to make it 5-1 with just 13 seconds remaining and ensuring the Steelers moved back up to second in the Group A standings with two games remaining.