SHEFFIELD STEELERS showed the kind of resilience they will need plenty of in the Elite League title run-in when they came from behind three times before edging out Coventry Blaze in a shoot-out.

Ahead of Sunday’s games, the Steelers closed the gap on leaders Belfast Giants to six points when their nerve-jangling 4-3 victory at the Utilita Arena on Saturday night was backed up by a 5-2 defeat for Adam Keefe’s team at home to Cardiff Devils.

The Giants head to South Yorkshire for a pivotal double-header against the Steelers next weekend and were set to face-off against Cardiff at the SSE Arena for a second time on Sunday.

Mitchell Balmas, who along with Mitchell Heard scored in the shoot-out, said: “I thought we battled really hard and had our legs all night.

OVER THE LINE: Sheffield Steelers' players celebrate their 4-3 win after a shoot-out against Coventry Blaze. Picture: Hayley Roberts/Steelers Media.

placeholder image — OVER THE LINE: Sheffield Steelers' players celebrate their 4-3 win after a shoot-out against Coventry Blaze. Picture: Hayley Roberts/Steelers Media.

“We were competing and you could see we wanted it. It went both ways, they would strike but we would answer. Eamon McAdam (goalie) made a couple of massive saves for us in the shoot-out.”

Coventry opened the scoring just over seven minutes in through Matthew Gleason before Patrick Watling levelled with a one-timer just over five minutes later.

Adam Robbins forced the puck over the line on the power play to restore Coventry’s lead at 22.09 but it only took the Steelers a minute to respond when Dominic Cormier converted a rebound.

Mike Pelech made it 3-2 at 25.02 but only 61 seconds had passed before Evan Jasper hauled the hosts level again before Balmas and Heard - along with goalie Eaman McAdam - made themselves heroes in the shoot-out.

TIMELY STRIKE: Liam Peyton scored an overtime winner for Leeds Knights at champions Swindon Wildcats. Picture: Kev Bland/Knights Media.

In NIHL National, Leeds Knights backed up their 5-4 home win over Sheffield Steeldogs on Friday when they beat champions Swindon Wildcats by the same scoreline on the road 24 hours later.

Liam Peyton scored the overtime winner for the Knights - with first goals of the season coming earlier in the night for defencemen Jordan Griffin and Sam Cooper, along with strikes from Matt Bissonnette and Frankie O’Sullivan who, at 16 years and 73 days old, became the youngest Knights player to score in NIHL National.

The defeat failed to dampen the spirits for the home side, though, who were presented with the regular season championship trophy at the end of the game in front of a packed crowd.

Hull Seahawks saw their 10-game winning streak ended with a 5-2 defeat at home to Peterborough Phantoms - Emil Svec twice finding the net for the hosts.