Welcome to the match report from the Steelers game against
the Braehead Clan.
Steelers headed into the final game before Christmas on the
back of a 6-1 Challenge Cup quarter final win over the Dundee Stars. It was a
chance for the team to impress before back to back Christmas games against the
Panthers. Team news saw the Steelers at full strength bar Kieran Brown which
meant that both Scott Aarssen and Zack Fitzgerald faced their old club. Clan
featured former Steelers defenceman Christoffer Björklund, but were missing
forwards Cale Tanaka, Tyler Shattock and former NHLer Ryan Poultny who
impressed well in his last visit to the Arena in October.
After a delay due to power outage the home team created a
very early chance, Swedish forward Andreas Jämtin causing Ryan Nie in the
Clan goal to hold on after just 11 seconds of play. Paul Thompson also juggled
up the lines with Liam Kirk partnering Colton Fretter and Mathieu Roy on the
top line, the usual second line combination, John Armstrong onto the third with
Matt Marquardt and Jämtin, and Tim Wallace moved to the fourth alongside captain
Jonathan Phillips and Jonas Westerling. Clan were given a powerplay just over
five minutes in when Andreas Valdix seemed to be harshly called for goaltender
interference but the Steelers penalty kill has been one of their strengths, and
saw off the man advantage.
Braehead continued to press, and forced Ervins Mustukovs
into a series of saves midway through the opening twenty before Steelers came
back into it at the end. However, the teams remained scoreless with Clan edging
it the game via shots on goal. We didn’t have to wait for a goal in the middle
period though as Steelers got themselves on the board at 21:38. Good work from
Armstrong set up Marquardt to score his 14th of the season from the
high slot with Jämtin providing a good screen in front of Nie. That 14th
goal for Marquardt matched his tally with Coventry last season. Despite this,
and plenty of other chances Steelers held that slender margin going into the
final period.
The dominance continued in the third and you just knew it
was coming. Mathieu Roy with a nice pass to his faithful sidekick Colton
Fretter who made the Clan look absolutely daft before dispatching beyond Nie
for 2-0 and a bit of breathing space. It was Colton’s 13th of the
season. Apart from that opening period, Clan been second best for the second
and third period and captain Ville Hämäläinen took a nasty knock
towards the end of the game which is bound to concern coach John Tripp in what
has been a very short-benched Clan roster all season so far. With 1:48 left to
play, Clan gambled and risked Nie for an extra attacker. It was prone to leave
them exposed, and they almost conceded a third when Tim Wallace (a player in
need of goals) missed the empty cage from near on the half board next to the
Clan bench. A few moments later, the clincher arrived. Clan turned the puck
over after that Wallace effort, and the King Of Sheffield swooped on it before
doing a nice wraparound finish into the unprotected goal: Mathieu’s 13th
of the season. Game done and dusted, now for the Panthers!
Time for the statistics:
Goals: Steelers 3 Clan 0
Steelers Scoring: Roy 1+1, Marquardt 1+0, Fretter 1+0, Matheson 0+1, Armstrong 0+1.
Clan Scoring: Nobody!
Shots On Goal: Steelers 39 Clan 23
Powerplay: Steelers 0 from 4 (0% conversion), Clan 0 from 3 (0% conversion)
Penalty Minutes called: Steelers 6 Clan 8
Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 23 Saves (674), GAA: 0.00 (2.30), Save Percentage: 100.00% (91.70%).
Man of the Match: Ervins Mustukovs (Steelers), Ryan Nie (Clan)
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