Steelers stay in hunt for fifth

Dave Matsos's side seem to have finally found their winning touch, something backed up by adding a point from their trip to Nottingham Panthers on Saturday to the two they secured with a 3-2 win on home ice against leaders Coventry Blaze on Friday night.

But Edinburgh's 4-3 win at Murrayfield over Belfast last night - following a 3-1 defeat to the Northern Ireland team on Saturday - drew them back to within two points of Steelers but, crucially, with three games in hand.

Steelers had not enjoyed any joy at the National Ice Centre prior to Saturday night's visit but, this time, they were at least able to give Corey Neilson's title hopefuls a tough night.

Panthers took a 2-0 lead with goals from Marty Gascon at 1.15 and Jade Galbraith at 10.10. At one stage, in what was a tempestuous opening, four players from each side were binned for roughing at the same time and, later in the period, two from each roster were assessed fighting majors.

After the game eventually settled down, Steelers hit back with a couple of late second period strikes to tie things up, the first one coming through Joey Talbot at 37.27 before Jeff Legue's shorthanded goal at 39.36.

At 45.55 Panthers were ahead again through David Clarke, but it was Steelers who enjoyed the better of the chances in the third, eventually finding the net through Jason Hewitt's 12th goal of the season at 56.32 which was enough to guarantee overtime.

That remained goalless and it was left to Panthers' Galbraith to secure the extra point when he was the only scorer in the shoot-out.

Afterwards, Matsos said he was pleased with the display from his players, despite their five-game winning run coming to an end.

"Overall,I had to be happy with the performance, how we didn't get both points I don't know.

"We out shoot a team as offensive as Nottingham 40-23 and don't win the game - it's crazy. We played hard, we fought back from a slow start and a little brain fade at the back end.

"But taking 11 points out of 12 is a good run, we have four league games to make sure we keep this form up heading into the play-offs."