Sheffield Steelers ‘rewarded’ to stay in Elite League title race with Belfast Giants

Steelers hit back from a disappointing start to the weekend to ensure they remained firmly in the Elite League regular season title race in Kirkcaldy, a 3-0 defeat at the hands of arch-rivals Nottingham Panthers at the National Ice Centre on Saturday exactly not what was required, particularly with leaders Belfast Giants enjoying a relatively comfortable 4-1 victory at home to Dundee Stars.

But goals from Vojtěch Polák, Martin Látal, Robert Dowd, Justin Hodgman and Matias Sointu in Kirkcaldy means the Steelers remain in the hunt, four points off the Giants, who enjoyed a maximum return after coming from behind to win 6-5 in overtime at Manchester Storm.

Steelers had to come from behind themselves at Fife after Brandon Magee beat Rok Stojanovič to open the scoring at 10.37 although the sides were level by the first intermission thanks to Polák’s well-placed shot at 16.277.

Greg Chase put Fife back ahead at 22.29 but the visitors fought back to lead by the end of period two, Látal showing good patience to pick the puck up at the back post and calmly slot over Owen to tie the game at 29.52 before, on the 38-minute mark, Dowd converted on a rebound to put the Steelers ahead for the first time in the game.

Hodgman’s goal 42.02 into the final period gave the Steelers some breathing space, with Sointu rounding things off for the visitors at 53.03.

“That was a competitive hockey game for most of the night tonight,” said Steelers’ head coach Fox afterwards. “I felt like we actually played a pretty good game for a full 60 minutes. We gave up one early on, but I liked our pushback, we battled hard and the difference between our game over the night before was that our compete level was there – we won races, we won battles, we got pucks to the paint and we were rewarded for it.”

The previous night was one the Steelers will want to forget. Kevin Massy put the Panthers ahead with just 16 seconds on the board, that goal proving enough to keep them ahead until Sean Richards struck with a shorthanded effort in the 38th minute.

Robbie Baillargeon then struck at 56.08 to seal a deserved win for the Panthers, who followed it up with a 4-3 win in overtime at Glasgow Clan.