Steelers face battle to reach last four

The two meet again at Ice Sheffield next Wednesday for the second leg of their quarter-final with the outcome very much hanging in the balance.

Ultimately, it was a game in which Dundee handed the Steelers a lesson in finishing, with the visitors having almost twice as many shots on goal on the night.

In a tight first period, it wasn’t until the final minute that the deadlock was broken when Dundee took a 20th-minute lead through Mike Wirll.

But the Steelers hit back to first level through Jeff Legue in the 25th minute with Jason Hewitt giving the visitors the lead just over 10 minutes later.

The third period, however, belonged to the home side, with Wirll grabbing his second of the night – and his 22nd of the season – to level matters at 49.39.

The Stars got themselves in front for a second time just over two minutes later when Billy Bagron scored his 14th of the campaign.

Steelers’ head coach Ryan Finnerty said before the game that he would have been happy to return from Tayside on level terms, so he will have been disappointed to see his side let in a fourth goal in the closing minutes.

AJ MacLean was the man who did the damage when, with Legue in the penalty box on a slashing call, he found a way past John DeCaro to make it 4-2 at 57.37.

Tempers then frayed, particularly in the last few seconds of the game, with Steelers’ defenceman Chris Frank being handed a match penalty for excessive roughness and team-mate Shawn Limpright a five-plus game for roughing.

Stars also found themselves light in the bodies department when Bagron was ejected on a five-plus game for roughing and Tristan Harper was handed a fighting major and game for being third man in.