Sheffield Steelers do it 'ugly' to edge ever-closer to Elite League crown

The Steelers edged out visitors Nottingham Panthers 3-2 after a shoot-out on Saturday night.

As the YP went to press on Sunday, the Steelers were in action against the Coventry Blaze, but their triumph the previous evening - combined with a 5-4 overtime loss for second-placed Cardiff Devils - saw their lead increase to 12 points.

It was Marc-Olivier Vallerand who broke the deadlock against the Panthers at 33.49, only for the visitors to level within two minutes through Westin Michaud.

It was the Panthers who struck next, though, Otto Nieminen beating Matt Greenfield at 44.38 on a power play generated through a too many men call.

However, it was captain Robert Dowd who hauled his team back on level terms almost four minutes later and that was how it stayed through until the final buzzer.

When no breakthrough could be found during overtime, it fell to a shoot-out in which Marco-Olivier Vallerand and Patrick Watling were on target for the Steelers.

Afterwards, head coach Aaron Fox admitted his team were far from their most fluent, perhaps not surprising given their celebrations in the aftermath of their 3-1 win over Guildford Flames in the Challenge Cup Final on Wednesday night.

“Obviously, we weren’t at our best tonight,” said Fox. “But we’ll take the two points.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect us to be at our best because it was a pretty emotional night on Wednesday and with a couple of days celebrating a trophy, you knew that there was going to be a little bit of a lull.

“But our guys found a way to get it done and if I’m going to pick out any positives, I felt we defended very well and we still didn’t give much up for them offensively.

“It was pretty ugly. I didn’t feel like there was a lot of clean offence from either team, some nights that is just the way it’s going to be.

“I challenged the guys after the second and said even though we’d won a trophy on Wednesday, we didn’t want to make the run-in any harder than it needed to be – and we somehow we picked up a point with Cardiff losing on penalty shots.”

In NIHL National, Sheffield Steeldogs can now prepare for the 2024-25 campaign after seeing their chances of making the play-offs mathematically ruled out.

A 7-3 loss at Swindon Wildcats sealed their fate, together with a 7-4 loss at home to the same opponents the previous night and wins for Raiders IHC and Bees IHC, who remain in a three-way fight with Solway Sharks for the remaining two play-off spots.

James Spurr opened the Steeldogs’ account in Wiltshire on Saturday, but they were trailing 6-1 by the end of the second following goals from Gael Lubwele, Glenn Billing, Tomasz Malasinski, Balint pakozdi, Aaron Nell and Russ Cowley.

Matt Bissonnette and Lee Haywood found the net in the third, but a second for Nell ensured a comfortable night for the hosts.