Steelers rally in Coventry to ease pain of loss to Panthers

POINT MAN: Sheffield Steelers' Mathieu Roy in action against Nottingham Panthers in Saturday's 4-1 defeat. He scored the hosts' only goal and was on target again in the 3-2 win at Coventry on Sunday. Picture: Dean Woolley.

A 4-1 defeat at home to Nottingham Panthers extended the Steelers’ losing streak in the league to five games to leave them down in fifth position and seven points behind current leaders Braehead Clan. Last night’s win at the Skydome Arena didn’t close the gap on Ryan Finnerty’s team at all – given they won 4-1 at Hull Stingrays – but Steelers did move back up to fourth after leapfrogging Cardiff Devils, who lost out at Nottingham in overtime.

Jeff Legue’s second period goal secured the two points in Coventry against a Blaze side on a high after their 5-4 win in Cardiff the previous night.

Gerad Adams’s team did trail initially, however, Ben Arnt scoring a powerplay goal at 12.12 with Tyler Mosienko in the penalty box on a hooking call.

But leading points scorer Mathieu Roy levelled five minutes later before Robert Dowd put the visitors ahead at 19.18.

Legue’s second goal since returning to the Steelers came at 34.21 and it proved to be the game winner, despite a 59th-minute strike from former Steelers’ captain Steven Goertzen ensuring that the visitors endured a nervous closing few seconds.

The result will have come to some relief to all connected with the Steelers, who were left a frustrated group 24 hours earlier when they suffered a fifth defeat of the season to Nottingham.

The game was over after two periods, with the Steelers up against a ruthless Panthers unit.

First period goals from Guillaume Doucet and Cody Wild were followed after the break by efforts from Bruce Graham and Brandon Benedict, before minor consolation was gained by the hosts through a Roy goal at 51.14.

Hull looked on course for a memorable four-point weekend when going into the second period break at home to league leaders Braehead 1-0 ahead through Yan Turcotte’s 28th-minute strike.

Coming on the back of a terrific 4-2 win at defending champions Belfast Giants the previous night – thanks to goals from Will Frederick, Cory Tanaka, player-coach Omar Pacha and Eric Galbraith – it was understandable for home fans to be excited.

But Braehead showed just why they are top of the standings with third period strikes from Neil Trimm, Scott Pitt (2) and Stefan Meyer.