Steelers extinguish Blaze for a home win

Welcome to the match report from Sunday's game at home to the Coventry Blaze.

After being dismantled by Milton Keynes Lightning on the Saturday, Steelers looked to redeem themselves when they entertained Coventry Blaze at the House Of Steel on Sunday evening. From the side that lost in Buckinghamshire, Steelers were without Brady Ramsay after the centre picked up a knock from that game. However, there was a return for Levi Nelson who missed that game which meant the second line was reunited. Blaze were very short benched as they were without Ryan Dingle and Gustav Ahnelov whilst still looking for a replacement for Garrett Ladd. 

The home side started the game with a lot more intensity than they showed at Milton Keynes and with some commitment in front of a crowd of over 6500. The tone was set as early as 6:16 when Andreas Jämtin was the unfortunate recipient of a late hit by Blaze defenceman Dax Lauwers. Zack Fitzgerald took exception to it, and made the Blaze man accountable for his actions. Remarkably when it came to the penalties, referee Schmejkal awarded both players 17 penalty minutes each, Fitzgerald getting a 2+10 for instigation which was a strange decision. It spurred Steelers on though, and they opened the scoring 21 seconds later when Andreas Valdix skated down the left before dishing a perfect pass to Robert Dowd to net from close range: Nelson getting the second helper. 

Steelers poured forward for a second and got it at 8:28. With former Steeler Luke Ferrara off for hooking, the home powerplay went to work and a terrific shot from the right circle from Valdix sent the water bottle flying: Dowd and Nelson assisting. However, it clearly enraged Blaze netminder Kevin Nastiuk who complained about a possible man in the crease call to the referee but Schmejkal obviously saw nothing wrong and awarded the goal. Less than a minute later and it became 3-0, Tim Wallace pulled Nastiuk out of position and Colton Fretter tapped home one of the easiest goals he'll score all season long. Blaze called a time out then to try to stem the bleeding and to be honest it got them a foothold in the game, leading scorer Marc-Olivier Vallerand scoring on a break after he managed to outwit Ervins Mustukovs in a duel.

Remarkably that was all the scoring done with and all inside 17:14, but there was still plenty of other things going off in an occasional heated affair. Kevin Noble almost scored a second for the Blaze when he shot wide moments after exiting the box on a holding minor. Jonas Westerling was clearly sticked in the face just after Noble's effort, but it went unpunished. Then almost through the final period, Blaze's Danick Paquette tangled with Fretter and as he was being escorted towards the penalty box: he clearly pushed the linesman out of the way and got a game misconduct for his troubles. That should surely get some kind of ban. Nastiuk was pulled with 2:40 left, having kept Blaze in it with some excellent saves prior, but Steelers stood firm: none more so than Fitzgerald who took a nasty puck to the jaw with less than a minute and half left which caused the tough defenceman to end up at hospital. A much welcome win after a serious bump in the road the night before.

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Steelers 3 Blaze 1

Steelers Scoring: Valdix 1+1, Dowd 1+1, Nelson 0+2, Fretter 1+0, Jämtin 0+1, O'Connor 0+1.

Blaze Scoring: Vallerand 1+0, Robinson 0+1, Courchaine 0+1.

Shots On Goal:  Steelers 31 Blaze 24

Powerplay: Steelers 1 from 5 (20% conversion), Blaze 0 from 4 (0% conversion)

Penalty Minutes called: Steelers 27 Blaze 49

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 23 Saves (486), GAA: 1.00 (2.43), Save Percentage 95.80% (91.50%)

Man of the Match: Jonas Westerling (Steelers), Kevin Nastiuk (Blaze)

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