Sylvestre seals win in a Belfast battle royal

Here is the match report of Sunday's game in the Arena against the Belfast Giants.

Steelers were hoping to complete inter-conference four point weekend when they entertained the Belfast Giants on Sunday evening. Giants had won the previous two encounters this season and despite their injury woes, had a roster capable of making it three. For Steelers, they were unchanged from the impressive 4-0 win against Cardiff on Saturday which meant the home crowd had to wait that bit longer for the debut of new signing Andre Deveaux. Brady Ramsay sat out again as a healthy scratch. For Giants, they were missing defencemen Cole Jarrett, Kevin Raine and Jim Vandermeer, netminder Stephen Murphy, and forward Dustin Johner. Coach Adam Keefe laced the skates to help plug the gaps.

The home side came out with the same confidence that had seen them win last night, Colton Fretter forcing a save out of Jackson Whistle in the first ten seconds. It was a chippy affair from the start, and midway through the period Steelers went on a 5 on 3 when Brendan Connolly and Ryan Martinelli received minors within ten seconds of each other. At 12:20 Steelers made the two man advantage pay, Mark Matheson's shot getting a tip off out in front by the King himself and the water bottle went airborne. Spiro Goulakos was already making a nuisance of himself, more of which to come later, and picked up a 2+10 for a deliberate check from behind on Levi Nelson which absolutely Fitzy enraged. From the resultant powerplay, Steelers clicked again. Ben O'Connor found Fretter and his pass across the crease found John Armstrong at the back step to arrow a shot into the opposite top corner.

Then it really boiled over. Connolly cross-checked Fitzy and obviously Fitzy gave him a bit of something back. However, referee Mr Hicks saw Fitzy's actions more aggressive and decided to bin the Steelers talisman on a 5 plus game for hi-sticks which looked a bit excessive and left the Steelers down to four recognised defencemen. Scott Aarssen soon followed in the penalty box and either side of the period break saw Steelers on a massive penalty kill. Credit where it is due, Steelers killed it with immense pride which lifted the crowd enormously. But with only four defencemen, Steelers blue line were going to log some serious minutes and Giants racked it up knowing that. Yet in that second period, Steelers only conceded once and it was a bullet of a shot from Jonathan Ferland that beat Ervins Mustukovs despite Hicks looking on game time technology.

Could Steelers hold on for one last period? Well that thought ended less than a minute in the final twenty when who else but Colin Shields pounced on a loose puck and hammered it home. Giants then took the lead at 46:54, Goulakos with a howitzer of his own that flew in. The Giants defenceman then caused the next incident with another questionable hit on Fretter which caused the Steelers winger to see red rag to a bull and go after the Giant. Mr Hicks decided to bin the Steeler on a 5 plus game for checking from behind, and then after a long deliberation sent Goulakos packing too on a kicking match penalty which was when seen, one of the most vile acts I've ever seen in recent seasons at the Arena. The incident lifted the Arena, and it lifted also the Steelers and after some serious pressure, Matheson found space and crashed a sweet shot beyond Whistle for 3-3. It was then anyone's game, and it was going to take one mistake to cost his side. Unfortunately Steelers saw it fall on the wrong side as Andreas Valdix picked up a hooking minor with just under five minutes left. Some zippy passing ended up with Sebastian Sylvestre netting a cool finish as Mustukovs tried to get back. Steelers tried to push again but ran out of time, Giants securing a third win in as many meetings.

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Steelers 3 Giants 4

Steelers Scoring: Roy 1+1, Matheson 1+1, O'Connor 0+2, Armstrong 1+0, Jämtin 0+1, Fretter 0+1.

Giants Scoring: Sylvestre 1+1, Riley 0+2, Goulakos 1+0, Shields 1+0, Ferland 1+0, Saviano 0+1, D.Murphy 0+1, Connolly 0+1.

Shots On Goal:  Steelers 32 Giants 29

Powerplay: Steelers 2 from 5 (40% conversion), Giants 1 from 5 (20% conversion)

Penalty Minutes called: Steelers 58 Giants 47

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 25 Saves (357), GAA: 4.09 (2.41), Save Percentage 86.20% (92%)

Man of the Match: Jonathan Phillips (Steelers), Colin Shields (Giants)

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