Magnificent Moose as Steelers win in Nottingham

Time for the match report as the Steelers travelled to Nottingham on Saturday in Challenge Cup action.

After the, it has to be said, embarrassing 5-1 loss last Sunday in Coventry last Sunday: the Steelers travelled down the M1 for their second meeting of the season with the Panthers and again in the Challenge Cup. Panthers were buoyant after making the knockout stages of the Champions League in midweek, and as a result few Steelers fans thought we could come away with something. A more creditable performance would do for starters. New import Andreas Jämtin made his Steelers debut but the side were without both defenceman Davey Phillips and the King of Sheffield, Mathieu Roy. Panthers coach Corey Neilson had no such issues, and iced the same roster that won on Tuesday. That meant that former NHL goaltender Michael Garnett was in between the pipes as opposed to Sam Gospel who faced the Steelers in the 6-5 game last month at the Arena.

The game saw the Panthers on the proverbial front foot all the time, and Steelers having to repel them whilst manufacturer chances of their own when they got them. After 6:32 we had the first dance of the night, Brady Ramsay again showing his willingness to take on anyone regardless if they're bigger than him. This time it was Fitzy's old friend Jeff Brown (remember that from last season?) he had a dance with, and although most agreed Brown won it: Ramsay's energy was apparent. At 12:09, the tie was broken and much to the away support delight as Matt Marquardt scored his third goal in six games since returning from injury with a nice finish in between Garnett's pads. Then with less than three minutes left in the period, the dream line conjured up another Steelers goal. Valdix and Nelson with the set up, and Robbie Dowd put the biscuit away.

Shots on goal that period read 23-9 in the Panthers favour but Steelers were defensively sound with Mustukovs standing on his proverbial head whilst the team at the other looking to make something happen on the chances they created. Jämtin almost made it 3-0 with a debut goal early in the second but Garnett managed to hold on. Then the inevitable happened, Panthers scored through Zack Phillips but what happened afterwards was more entertaining as Fitzy and Mathieu Gagnon had a dance of their own post-goal. Steelers then were put under some serious pressure of their own as they started to pick up a number of penalties but Mustukovs wasn't having anything of it as he denied the home side again, again and bloody again. Then with 35 seconds left in the period, and with Bussieres sitting for boarding, Dowd scored his second of the night and give Steelers a 3-1 lead.

It stayed that way until just over seven minutes left on the clock. Both sides had a series of chances in the final twenty but at 52:57 Panthers made one count. Picking up the trash off a rebound was Josh Shalla, he who was so impressive at the Arena, and suddenly it became a nervous final few minutes. The home side ramped up the pressure but Steelers were still refusing to buckle and in Mustukovs, had a goalie who was really playing his "A" game. With a minute left Nelson was whistled for high sticks and Panthers coach Corey Neilson gambled on a 6 on 4 for the resultant powerplay but once more Steelers stood to a man, solid, and Tim Wallace went close with an empty net chance that really would sealed the deal.

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Panthers 2 Steelers 3 

Steelers Scoring: Dowd 2+0, Valdix 0+2, Nelson 0+2, Marquardt 1+0, J.Phillips 0+1, Matheson 0+1 .

Panthers Scoring: Z.Phillips 1+0, Shalla 1+0, Perlini 0+1, Brisebois 0+1, Gagnon 0+1.

Shots On Goal: Panthers 48 Steelers 24

Powerplay: Panthers 0 from 5 (0% conversion), Steelers 1 from 2 (50% conversion)

Penalty Minutes called: Blaze 14 Steelers 22

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 46 Saves (94 overall in CC), GAA: 2.00 (3.33), Save Percentage 95.80% (90.40%)

Man of the Match: Raphael Bussieres (Panthers), Ervins Mustukovs (Steelers)

Now for some of your thoughts:

Adrian Lee: "What we've been missing. We matched the Panthers, didn't outplay them but put the puck away when it mattered."

Nathan: "Didn't attend and obviously didn't see a webcast but by all Twitter accounts we played a good game and Moose was on fire!"

Deano: "Moose on fire and we've got Robert Dowd. Solid performance. Just wish Ronnberg would hit something. Good road game."

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