Sheffield Steelers v Dundee Stars: Why Davey Phillips feels bad about goaltender Matt Greenfield's numbers

The Steelers head into tonight’s Elite League encounter at home to Dundee Stars joint-top of the regular season standings, although ahead of rivals Guildford Flames on account of having more regulation wins.

A big part of the reason for Steelers’ early-season success, says Great Britain defenceman Phillips, is the form of ever-present Florida-born Greenfield.

The 27-year-old tops the stats for regular starting goalies in the EIHL, combining a 1.45 goals against average (GAA) in the league with a .946 save percentage.

Greenfield’s platform has enabled confidence to spread amongst the players in front of him, not least the defence, who have only conceded an impressive 13 goals in nine games.

But Phillips is holding his hand up for a couple of those goals, having seen one deflect off his skate and another - during Saturday’s massive 5-2 win at Cardiff Devils - deflect off his stick and past the unsuspecting Greenfield.

“Our goalie is playing really well at the minute,” said 35-year-old Phillips. “And when you have a goalie that is playing that well, you have a chance to win every game and it inspires the guys in front of him and gives us confidence.

“He’s playing brilliantly and I feel bad for him because some games he lets a goal in and it’s no fault of his own.

“I must admit, I’ve had a couple of unlucky ones recently, one hit my skate and went in and then in Cardiff one hits my stick and flies past him and in. So I feel awful because he should really have only let the one goal in during that Cardiff game and I feel like I’m ruining his stats a bit!

“Obviously it’s just a bit of bad luck from my side but I feel bad because he’s standing on his head at the minute.”

The Steelers will be going for a third straight win against the Stars in the space of a month tonight, the first meeting between the two in South Yorkshire after two encounters in Tayside already.

The Steelers won 7-1 and then 5-0 in Dundee, part of a rich vein of form which has brought seven wins in nine league outings.

While there will be no hint of complacency from Aaron Fox’s players tonight, they will go into the contest buoyed by Saturday’s trip to South Wales, which saw them avenge an opening night 3-1 defeat on home ice to the Devils.

“It bodes well for this season, a result like that,” added Phillips, now in his sixth full season with the Steelers. “Cardiff beat us on our ice so that was two points we dropped at home against them so we needed to win that game down there.

“Although we’ve got to play them four more times, you don’t want to drop the first two games.

“Cardiff is always a tough place to go and play. You’ve got the long bus trip down there, they always have a good crowd, they always start games there with good energy and you just have to weather the storm a little bit. But we were able to do that and come away with two big points.