17 Feb 2024, 19:00 | Regular season | Sheffield Arena |
Sheffield Steelers | 6-4 | Nottingham Panthers |
Periods: Shots: | 2-1 (16-9) | 1-1 (12-15) | 3-2 (11-7) | Total: 39-31 |
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Referees: Pering/Good  |  Spectators: 8361 |
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Goals and assists
Sheffield Steelers came out winners against Nottingham Panthers in an
exciting game in front of over 8,300 fans at the Utilita Arena.
Period
one was a game of turnovers, and deflections. Kevin Tansey almost
coughed the puck up in front of his own goal in front of his own crease
after the Steelers won the opening draw, but just did enough to avert
the danger. As the puck went up the other end, the Panthers almost
gifted the Steelers a goal with a careless pass but the game stayed
level.
The Panthers took two penalties behind the Steelers' goal
line in the first, and were punished each time. Felix Pare's Slash let
to Dominic Cormier tipping Patrick Watling's shot past Rok Stojanovič
5:46 into things to open the scoring. Westin Michaud responded three and
a half minutes later with an excellent deflection on Mike Caruso's
shot, but the Panthers' scorer then took a Cross-Checking minor to put
his team down a skater again - Daniel Ciampini shovelled the puck over
the line off a nice pass from Mitchell Balmas to the side of
Stojanovič's net.
Logan Neilson jumped off the bench and into the
slot to score his third goal in as many games and tie things up at 25:09
with a well-taken finish. The Panthers weren't level for long, however -
Simon Despres was about to be called for a High Stick, but the Steelers
worked the puck to Kevin Tansey for a wrist-shot finish at 28:26 to put
the hosts back ahead. The game began opening up in the final stages of
the period - Westin Michaud setting up Alexander Lunsjo at the back
post on a 2-on-0 but he couldn't pull the move to beat Greenfield, while
Hugo Roy saw a breakaway attempted denied not a minute later.
Mikko
Juusola finished off a nice passing play to put the Steelers 4-2 ahead
1:39 into period three, followed by Josh Nicholls scoring at 49:18 to
give the hosts a 5-2 lead. However, a couple of quick goals got the
Panthers back into things: Hugo Roy slapped an Anthony Luciani pass home
at 52:29, while Westin Michaud got the credit for the Panthers' fouth
off a deflection in front of Greenfield. Rober tDowd getting a bobbling
puck over the line gave the Steelers their two-goal advantage back with
4:56 to go to settle the home side's nerves.
The win was enough to confirm the Steelers' place in the playoffs.