SHEFFIELD STEELERS suffered home ice frustration against Nottingham Panthers - but of greater concern was the welfare of popular forward Patrick Watling.

The 32-year-old grand slam winner was ruled out of Saturday’s clash at the Utilita Arena and - according to head coach Aaron Fox - probably for the rest of the season after a freak accident in training on Friday morning.

Watling was struck in the face by a puck and required immediate hospital treatment after sustaining multiple fractures.

He spent most of the day in hospital and returned again on Saturday.

The left-hander came out of retirement to answer an SOS call from the Steelers in December and has scored 15 points in 25 appearances.

“That was a horrible situation on Friday at practice,” said Fox. “He took a puck to the face, broken in multiple spots. He spent the majority of Friday in the hospital and was back there today. His season is very likely done.

“It was just a fluke accident - a puck that bounced off a couple of sticks. He’s had 15 points in his last 15 games, so he was on a really nice run of form and that was a tough one during that practice, the way that went down and how much pain he was in, it wasn’t great.

“Obviously he’s been here for a few years so he’s a guy that myself and the other coaches think really fondly of and just gutted for him to have to go through that right now.”

HARD NIGHT: Sheffield Steelers' Evan Jasper collides with Nottingham Panthers' Mitchell Fossier during Saturday night's Elite League clash at the Utilita Arena. Picture: Hayley Roberts/Steelers Media.

placeholder image — HARD NIGHT: Sheffield Steelers' Evan Jasper collides with Nottingham Panthers' Mitchell Fossier during Saturday night's Elite League clash at the Utilita Arena. Picture: Hayley Roberts/Steelers Media.

After a bright start against Nottingham, the Steelers came off second-best, losing 4-2 to leave them fourth ahead of Sunday’s rematch between the two teams at the National Ice Centre.

Despite out-shotting the Panthers by a remarkable 24-1 in the first period, the Steelers - who handed an EIHL debut to British defenceman Liam Steele - only had one goal to show for their efforts, an 11th-minute marker from Joona Huttula.

Their difficulty in converting pressure into goals - as was the case in the double-header weekend at home to leaders Belfast Giants the previous week - came back to haunt the Steelers once again.

Nottingham got themselves 2-1 ahead by the second intermission through Ross Armour and Bryan Lemos, doubling their lead just 57 seconds into the third period with a strike from Matthew Marcinew.

BACK IN THE GAME: Patrick Watling is likely to miss the rest of the 2025-26 Elite League season after behing struck in the face by a puck in training on Friday morning. Picture: Hayley Roberts/Steelers Media.

Hope arrived for the hosts when Evan Jasper made it a one-goal game at 50.54 but, despite their efforts, an empty-net strike from Jakob Stridsberg ensured both points went to the recently-crowned Challenge Cup champions.

“I thought there was a much better pushback in the third than last weekend,” added Fox.

“But when you have 47 shots and only two goals, analytically, you’re going to look at the expected goals in that game and probably say we should have won it 6-2 or 7-2.

“And to end up losing the game the way we did is frustrating but that’s just the way things are going when things are down a little bit - we’re finding ways to lose hockey games we probably shouldn’t.”