Sheffield Steelers 3 Guildford Flames 4: Steelers let lead slip to be edged out in overtime by Elite League leaders

The winning goal came in somewhat controversial circumstances, as far as the home side were concerned, convinced that a penalty should have been called for a shove on Brendan Connolly.

No call came and, moments later, Bradley Lalonde fired past Matt Greenfield to complete a remarkable turnaround.

The Steelers had got off to the perfect start when they found themselves ahead after just 59 seconds, Scott Allen unleashing a bullet from the left circle which seemed to catch Eamon McAdam by surprise as it flew over his left shoulder and into the roof of the net.

But the encounter quickly settled down into an even affair with the Flames testing Matt Greenfield on a number of occasions before drawing level just after 10 minutes when Ian McNulty was allowed time and space to fire home from the top of the let circle after being nicely set up by Robert Lachowicz.

Steelers enjoyed more possession and zone time in the second and got their reward when defenceman Matt Petgrave drove in from the left side and danced his way around McAdam on the edge of the crease before backhanding into the empty net while at full stretch at 28.42.

It got even better for the hosts just under five minutes later after Tomas Pitule doubled the advantage when tapping home from inside the crease after good work by Robert Dowd.

But the lead was soon cut in half and from a familiar face, former Steelers’ defenceman Ben O’Connor firing home on the power play, with the puck eventually squirming over the line after taking a couple of deflections to make it 3-2 at 34.13.

Guildford refused to go away, though, and it required a fantastic save from Greenfield early in the third for the Steelers to retain their lead.

It was a lead they should have extended with just over five minutes remaining when Brandon McNally and Allen broke clear on a 2-on-0, only for the latter to fire over the empty net after McAdam had been drawn out by McNally.

They were soon made to pay for it, too, the Flames equalising after winning a face-off in the right circle, allowing Peter Crinella to fire through traffic and past the unsighted Greenfield at 55.21.

That brought overtime and with it Lalonde’s winner – one which left the home fans fuming at the officials.