Steelers And Giants Play Out Cracker At Motorpoint: (EIHL) Match Report

Sunday 9th March 2013 - Sheffield Steelers (27-16-4) v Belfast Giants (40-5-2) @ Motorpoint Arena. Face off: 5pm

Sheffield host the champions on a Sunday evening and what a difference 24 hours would make after the result in Hull on Saturday night.

The game got underway with Frank Doyle in goal for Sheffield and Stephen Murphy in goal for Belfast and the game was underway and it was Belfast Giants who attacked first through Chris Higgins who tried to round Frank Doyle only for his shot to be blocked by the Sheffield goaltender. Sheffield's first attempt fell to Chris Blight who saw his shot blocked just before Frank Doyle had to make a fantastic double save of Lloyd. Sheffield were being very cautious with the puck in the opening stages of the game due to how proceedings went the previous night in Hull. Murphy would be next to save this time of DiCasmirro who tipped Chad Langlais shot onto the blocker of Stephen Murphy, Cheverie tried his luck on the back hand only to be denied by Doyle and a fantastic play by Robert Dowd who played in Langlais just inside the Belfast zone only to see his shot covered up from between the circles. It would be Belfast who would strike first though on 11:46 when Dustin Whitecotton played in Colin Shields who coolly slotted the puck through the five hole of Frank Doyle for a 1-0 lead, Sheffield got straight back on the attack and it didn't take them long to equalise when on 12:53 some fantastic puck protection by Stefan Meyer behind the goal for him to then play in Rob Dowd who fired the back hand over Murphy to level the game and score his 100th Sheffield Steelers goal. It wouldn't be a tied game for long though when Robby Sandrock would pick the puck up assisted by Cheverie and Higgins to shoot through traffic from the blue line which took a deflection and went in off the post for a 2-1 Giants lead on 14:09. Sheffield would get the first power play of the night when Belfast's Evan Cheverie was deemed two minutes for hooking. Sheffield wouldn't be able to make it count with the best opportunity of the man advantage falling to Chad Langlais but with the Giants back to full strength Stephen Murphy had to stand up big to deny both Legue and Lacroix but it would be Belfast who would take a 2-1 lead into the 1st intermission.
End of the 1st Period: Sheffield Steelers 1-2 Belfast Giants
Shots on Goal: Steelers 9-11 Giants

Second period got underway and it was the worst possible start for the Sheffield Steelers when just after 41 seconds Rob Dowd with a dreadful turnover to Colin Shields in front of goal who just snapped the puck past Frank Doyle for a 3-1 lead, Dowd would try to make up for that after an Elfring mistake allowed Dowd to skate through on goal to square to Lacroix who was up handed by Elfring with the Steelers forward down injured but would be ok to play on, Sheffield would get a 5 on 3 power play chance with Calvin Elfring and Cody Brookwell in the penalty box and would miss to golden opportunities through Drew Fata and Jeff Legue when it seemed harder to miss but Belfast would successfully make their way back to full strength and we'd start to see a more physical Sheffield team as Spencer would lay down a hit on Whitecotton just before Lacroix hit Elfring down on the Ice but on 29:51 Kevin Saurette would be given permission to skate into the Sheffield zone with Chad Langlais giving him too much space and the Giants forward would exploit that firing the puck past Frank Doyle with a slap shot to give the champions a 4-1 lead. Murphy would have to deny Legue as he was played in by Lacroix but Sheffield would find themselves on the power play with Robby Sandrock in the box for holding and Sheffield would strike from the resulting face off as Nate DiCasmirro would win the face off and pass to Baldwin who play sideways to Drew Fata who would shoot one of his slap shots which would beat Stephen Murphy over his glove to bring Sheffield within two goals on 32:44. Belfast would then create some good pressure and Sheffield would struggle to get out of their own zone resulting in Langlais taking a hooking penalty but Sheffield would do fantastic to takeaway the shooting lanes and clearing the zone when possible, Sheffield would get back to full strength and Jeffrey Szwez would see his back hand effort denied by Doyle onto to then see the puck get cleared of the line but Belfast would take a 4-2 lead into the 2nd intermission.
End of the 2nd Period: Sheffield Steelers 2-4 Belfast Giants
Shots on Goal: Steelers 9-12 Giants

The third period would eventually get underway despite the delay due to the playing surface not being completely frozen and what a period it was with the perfect start of the Sheffield Steelers when after just 1 minute and 10 seconds of the third period Chris Blight would fire in a shot from the boards only for Jeff Legue to tip it past Stephen Murphy stood in front to bring the Sheffield Steelers within one goal. Both goaltenders would be called upon having to make several saves each but game tie-ing goal came on 44:55 when Chris Blight snapped a shot from the blue line that rebounded off Murphy into the path of Lacroix who put the puck onto the post for Legue to skate from the side of the goal and back hand it which would force Belfast to call a timeout after allowing Sheffield to level the game at 4-4 after being 4-1 up. Sheffield would start to frustrate Belfast who had Evan Cheverie taking a holding call only for 8 second later for Max Lacroix to level it up with a slashing call but neither team would score on the 4 on 4 and would successfully get back to five skaters each. Belfast would have several chances fall nicely as Szwez and Chris Higgins were denied before Keefe was on the attack only to be denied by a sliding tackle from Danny Meyers. Sheffield were going for the win and Drew Fata and Rob Dowd both tried their luck but would both see their shots covered up by Murphy. The buzzer would go and it would finish 4-4 and we'd be heading to overtime and what a comeback it was by the Sheffield Steelers.
End of Regulation: Sheffield Steelers 4-4 Belfast GiantsShots on Goal: Steelers 13-8 Giants

So a 4-4 game and into sudden death overtime it was and it was an exciting start to the added period as Doyle had to deny Belfast from in just front before Sheffield went straight up the other end and somehow didn't find the game winning goal through DiCasmirro and Dowd which seemed like golden chances as Doyle then had to stand tall to a Sandrock shot and then with just over a minute of overtime remaining Jeffrey Szwez managed to get himself on the breakaway only to be denied by a fantastic poke check by Drew Fata but Fata would then take a boarding call and gift Giants with a power play with 44 second left but Sheffield would successfully see the remainder of overtime and take the game to penalty shots.
End of Overtime: Sheffield Steelers 4-4 Belfast GiantsShots on Goal: Steelers 2-4 Giants

Into penalty shots then and it would be Belfast who would shoot first through Dustin Whitecotton but Frank Doyle would make the save with the knee pads and then it was over to Chris Blight who beat Stephen Murphy on the back hand to give Sheffield a 1-0 lead, Craig Peacock would be Giants second shooter but wouldn't be able to get it past Doyle as the Sheffield goaltender saved again, Maxime Lacroix had the opportunity to win the game but could only shoot into the body of Murphy and then up last for Belfast it was Robby Sandrock who had to score to keep Giants in the shoot out but Doyle saved it with the blocker and fist pumped the ground in delight as Sheffield won the game.

FINAL SCORE: Sheffield Steelers 5-4 Belfast Giants (PS)

Boxscore (1st-2nd-3rd-OT-SO-[PIM]-{PP}-S)
Sheffield  - 1-1-2-0-1-[6]-{1/5}-34
Belfast     - 2-2-0-0-0-[10]-{0/3}-35

Sheffield Man of the Match: #11 Jeff Legue
Belfast Man of the Match: #19 Colin Shields

Referee: #26 Dean Smith
Referee:
Linesman: #22 Paul Staniforth
Linesman: #8 Dave Farren

What a night at the Motorpoint Arena, what a performance by the Steelers to come from 4-1 down to level the game at 4-4 and then win on penalty shots in a massive two pointer in the fight to secure second place in the elite league with only four games remaining.

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Tom
@TomWalkeden
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