Sheffield Steelers back in Elite League title frame after successful navigation of hectic schedule

Regardless of the Sunday results for Elite League title rivals Cardiff Devils, Belfast Giants and Nottingham Panthers, the Steelers’ ability to go into a welcome week off with five straight wins has catapulted them right back into the race for the most prized piece of silverware in UK ice hockey.

Having overcome in-form Belfast in Northern Ireland on Friday night, the Steelers headed back to South Yorkshire to complete a near-ridiculous run of five games in eight days with a 4-1 triumph over Guildford Flames.

With a rare Sunday off, it means they will have some welcome downtime before returning midweek to prepare for back-to-back home games against Coventry Blaze and Fife Flyers next weekend.

It is no more than they deserve. Written off already by some over their chances of retaining their league title, the Steelers do still have work to do to close the gap on their rivals, but they are in a much healthier position to do so because of their efforts across the past week or so.

For head coach Aaron Fox, he is simply pleased to see a little swagger return to his roster, one that was low on confidence when they came off second-best against Nottingham at the Utilita Arena on Boxing Day, the 4-2 defeat extending their losing streak to four games.

“I’m just happy we got the job done,” said a tired Fox, after Saturday night’s win against the Flames. “I thought we played really solid, the compete level was again through the roof from our group.

“Guildford are a good hockey team and are playing well right now, too, they’ve got a lot of speed but I felt we managed that very well.

“It has been a tough stretch for us, I think that was our fifth win in the last eight days and that’s not easy – especially with the travel mixed in there.

“And so this was one of those weeks which you circled on the calendar, especially with the way that we’d been playing and it was going to maybe be a make or break time for our group.

“And I think we’ve found a way to get right back into this thing and it has been huge for our confidence and huge for us moving forward.”

It didn’t take long for the Steelers to get out of the traps, Max Golod reacting sharply to a face-off win by Mark Simpson to fire past Flames’ goaltender Jake Kupsky with only 3.37 on the clock.

It was Simpson who added to his own points tally on the night when he was quickest to react to a Kupsky save from a Brien Diffley shot to steer the puck into the gaping goal for his 13th goal of the season at 12.58.

The Flames got back in the game soon enough, however, when Ethan Strang took advantage only 19 seconds into a 5-on-3 power play situation – defencemen Joona Huttula and Kevin Tansey in the box on respective hooking and slashing calls – by firing past Matt Greenfield from the right circle at 16.12.

Greenfield was called upon again a couple of times in the second period to keep his team in front, his saves allowing the hosts to eventually double their lead when a Golod break down the right, saw the puck turned inside to Simpson, whose pass was one-timed into the bottom left-hand corner by Daniel Leavens at 36.43.

The Flames actually outshot the Steelers over the course of the 60 minutes, but lacked that clinical finish the hosts possessed on the night and, after Kupsky was eventually pulled in favour of the extra attacker, Golod was left with the simplest of chances to make it 4-1 with an empty net strike with just 29 seconds remaining.

It may have been Golod who took most of the plaudits on the night with his two goals and two assists, but Fox was equally delighted with the impact of his line-mates Simpson and Leavens, while also keen to emphasise the input from his whole team throughout such a busy period.

“I think our game is coming right now and, for me, it starts with compete and playing consistently the right way in concept,” said Fox, who revealed captain Robert Dowd had been left out with a lower-body injury sustained in Belfast and is “week-to-week” in terms of his recovery. “You need that buy-in from everyone and I think we’ve had that during this stretch.

“What I’ve told our group is that when we’re at it and we’re at our best as a group then I don’t think there is anybody better in the league and so it’s just about us finding that consistently and bringing it on a nightly basis now.

“We’re giving the guys a few days here to rest and recover and we’ll come back towards the end of the week and get some good skates in and be ready for two huge ones next week.”