Sheffield Steelers’ winning run ended by Dundee Stars but they remain top guns in Elite League

The latest winning streak for Aaron Fox’s team was curtailed at nine games by Dundee Stars who ran out 3-2 winners in Scotland to complete an impressive four-point weekend on home ice having already beaten Coventry Blaze the night before.

But, despite last night’s setback, the Steelers remain top of the Elite League standings, level on points with Cardiff Devils but with four games in hand.

They found themselves up against it with 10.55 gone, when a Stars 2-on-1 saw Sebastian Bengtsson shoot through Rok Stojanovič.

The Steelers’ response was swift, however, Robert Dowd benefitting from excellent work by Daine Todd to ensure the scores were level after the opening period, although the visitors only needed 52 seconds of the second period to go ahead, a powerplay leading to an excellent wrist shot from Marc-Olivier Vallerand.

But the Stars themselves proved capable of a quick response to falling behind when Timi Lahtinen set up Craig Garrigan for the equaliser at 25.18. Adam Morrison was impressive in the Stars net all night and it was to prove crucial, the hosts getting the all-important third and winning goal through Charlie Combs at 51.43.

At home to Nottingham Panthers the previous evening, the Steelers went ahead just shy of six minutes in through Matias Sointu. Matthew Lane tied things up for the Panthers at 10.33 on the powerplay after a nice pass from Jeremy Welsh set him up while, at the other end, Kevin Carr kept the Panthers level with an stunning save as he got back to his feet to deny Tanner Eberle.

Evan Mosey scored against his former team on the powerplay with 26.28 on the clock, but the Steelers were pegged back again by the Panthers with the extra man, Matthew Myers tipping JC Brassard’s shot through goalie Rok Stojanovič’s legs to level at 30.44.

But the game was decided in the first four minutes of the third period, the hosts taking control with two goals, getting ahead for a third time when Vallerand blasted one past Carr at 41.08 on a delayed penalty before Dowd backhanded home just over two minutes later.