Leeds Knights tame Sheffield Steeldogs to secure final showdown against Peterborough Phantoms

Trailing 5-2 from last week’s first leg of this NIHL National Cup final, Sheffield Steeldogs had a mountain to climb when they arrived at Elland Road for the return encounter.

It looked like they were going to pull it off, too, when they found themselves 2-0 ahead with just over 18 minutes gone.

But, as they have done on so many occasions this season, the Knights responded in typical free-scoring fashion, scoring twice in a minute to tie the game up on the night and restore their three-goal overall lead.

When they went 4-2 up in the second it was effectively game over. And even though the Steeldogs pulled one back in the 40th minute, they offered little threat in the third, allowing their Yorkshire rivals comfortable passage through to a final against Peterborough Phantoms.

Much like in Ice Sheffield last week, it was a cagey start from both sides, although the Knights had more impetus.

But they were rocked early on when, after looking as if they had initially waived a goal claim from the Steeldogs off, the officials then awarded it, adjudging that Vladislavs Vulkanovs had indeed forced the puck over the line with just 2.40 on the clock.

Both sides then enjoyed good zone time before the visitors went close to doubling their lead, Jason Hewitt denied from the left circle by Sam Gospel in the 11th minute, with the Leeds goalie again showing his quality to deny Jordan Buesa close in shortly after.

At the other end Dmitri Zimozdra was kept alert through efforts from Zach Brooks and Lewis Baldwin.

The Knights killed one penalty call on Baldwin at the 15 minute mark but when Dylan Hehir was sent to the box for kneeing, they couldn’t keep the Steeldogs out, Matt Bissonnette putting them 2-0 ahead when he beat Gospel at his near post at 18.19 reducing the deficit to one goal overall.

But the Knights were quick to respond – twice. The first halving the deficit on the night the when energetic Brooks forced the puck home from close range just 13 seconds later.

Then, with the clock having moved on just one more minute, Brooks, from inside his own zone, found Shudra on the left with an inch-perfect stretch pass. The Knights centre sped down the left boards before unleashing a fierce shot from the edge of the left circle that seemed to fly straight through Zimozdra.

Brooks was the first to force a save in the second period when he found Zimozdra immovable in the 22nd minute and after Bissonnette had been denied at the other end by Gospel from close in, the Steeldogs netminder had to be alert once more to deny Finn Bradon from the edge of the crease on a breakaway.

The Knights then enjoyed plenty of zone time without really creating any clear-cut chances, but it was on another breakaway just after the halfway mark that they got themselves ahead for the first time on the night.

After it all got a bit messy in the neutral zone, the puck fell kindly to Haywood. He broke clear down the left, found Jake Witkowski alone in the right circle, from where his first-time pass teed up Mac Howlett to fire home at 31.57.

Alex Graham was tossed from the game for a boarding penalty which left Bailey Perre in some discomfort – not for the first time this season – and, after a series of other penalties brought a spell of 4-on-4, the Knights were the ones to make the extra space count when Shudra drove in from the left and fired the puck home at 37.31.

The visitors ensured they retained faint hopes of a comeback in the final 20 when good pressure by Lee Bonner saw the puck fall to Buesa, who fired past Gospel from eight yards out.

That made it 4-3 on the night but the Steeldogs were still four goals adrift overall and, somewhat surprisingly, there seemed little impetus from either side in the third, the Knights understandbly content to kill off a game which was effectively already theirs, given their huge aggregate lead.

Bradon – impressive after being thrust on to the third line due to an injury to Oli Endicott – came close on a couple more occasions, the second time denied point-blank by Zimozdra and the Steeldogs’ goalie had to be at his sharpest again at close range when Witkowski fed Howlett.

While Gospel was called upon on a couple of occasions at the other end, insult was eventually added to injury with just under four minutes remaining.

Witkowski – again impressive with another calm, measured performance – got his just rewards when his speculative effort from the right boards passed through traffic and completely eluded Zimozdra.