Stingrays held on opening night

Sylvain Cloutier's side avoided defeat on the opening night in front of a crowd of more than 1,000 by coming from two goals behind in a pulsating final period.

The only goal of the first period came the way of the visitors as Tylor Michel scored on a 5-on-3 powerplay at 16.33.

The Devils doubled their lead as Phil Hill netted at 27.21 before a powerplay goal from Matti Uusivirta halved the deficit only for the visitors to quickly regain their two goal lead when Jon Pelle netted at 29.46.

The hosts had it all to do in the third period and they weren't to disappoint as Ryan Lake – marking his return to the club after a five-year absence – made it a one-goal game at 48.20.

And as the pressure from the home side continued, it was player-coach Cloutier who provided the magic when he got his side back on level terms at 50.13.

"We have been together for five days," said Cloutier. "I told the guys before the game just to make sure to play hard for 60 minutes and never give up no matter what the score is whether we are up by five goals or down by five.

"We have to keep playing the same way and not change anything. We need to get into good habits and I was proud of the guys for playing that way for 60 minutes."

Sheffield Steelers went into their match against Dundee Stars at Sheffield Arena having already comprehensively beaten the Scottish newcomers twice.

But player-coach Ben Simon's side were made to work a lot harder on Sunday before maintaining their 100 per cent league record with a 4-2 victory.

The hosts took a three-goal lead through Robert Dowd and Jonathan Phillipss (2) before Gary Wishart hit back.

Ashley Tait made it 4-1 before Brent Hughes pulled one back.

In the EPL, Sheffield Steeldogs suffered a double setback with defeats to rival title favourites Milton Keynes Lightning and Slough Jets.

Matt Darlow's side were shutout in a 4-0 defeat at 2009-10 regular season league champions Milton Keynes before returning home on Sunday to take on last season's play-off champions Slough.

And despite Peter Vaisanen levelling for the home side in the middle of the second period, goals from Blaz Emersic, Slava Koulikov and Darius Pliskauskas proved enough to clinch both points.