Steelers strike six as Lightning pay the penalty

Welcome to the match report from Sunday's home game against the Milton Keynes Lightning.

After suffering a 4-1 reverse in Nottingham the night before Steelers looked to bounce back immediately as they entertained Milton Keynes for the first time in the House Of Steel since 1996, when the Steelers defeated the Kings (as they were then known as) 10-1. Team news saw the Steelers unchanged from the team that iced at the NIC which meant once more Brady Ramsay was the spare import sitting out the third of the Deveaux suspension. Lightning had no injury concerns, but had released former Steeler Ashley Tait in midweek from his short term deal in Buckinghamshire.

Steelers started with intensity, forcing former Panthers netminder into a save inside the first 40 seconds, but Lightning were always dangerous on the counter as they had proven a few times just eight days before when they routed Steelers 7-2. However like the Steelers in that game, Lightning were the ones who were picking up more than their fair share of penalties and one of those powerplays Steelers struck the opening goal of the game. After Ervins Mustukovs had denied Milton Keynes on a 3 on 1 shorthanded break, John Armstrong scythed his way through the Lightning blue line and whilst facing the wrong direction , managed to roof a superb backhand shot over Wiikman to gave Steelers the lead at 9:10. It was John's team leading 16th goal of the season.

More MK penalties followed as the visitors were seemingly making regular visits to the away penalty box quicker than a 51 bus to Charnock. The second period began with Steelers on yet another powerplay. At 21:20, a shot from the blue line was parried into the path of Colton Fretter who made no mistake from close range for 2-0 and a 10th goal of the season. Yet you just knew that one of those Lightning breaks would eventually pay off, and it did at 27:58. With Ben O'Connor caught out, the puck was chipped out to centre ice and Kyle Essery skated in on Mustukovs to score bar down and in. It was also a shorthanded strike which made a bit more of a bitter pill to swallow.

Buoyed by that Lightning continued to press, but Steelers were definitely making Wiikman more busier than he wanted. Needing a third goal to settle things down again, Steelers got it with 51 seconds of the second period left. A well executed slapshot on the powerplay from Mark Matheson simply scorched into Wiikman's net leaving the netminder still wondering where the puck was although he was not helped by his own defender Matt Nickerson providing an unexpected screen. 

We had to wait until just over nine minutes left in the game before Steelers scored their fourth which virtually sucked the life out of the Lightning, Robert Dowd scoring his 13th of the season following good work by Levi Nelson and David Phillips. It also signalled the end of Wiikman's night as he went off injured (and this time with no Steeler nearby), clearly something was wrong with his groin or shoulder, back up Jordan Hedley coming on in relief. More penalty problems led to the final two Steelers goals. Goal five came when former Cardiff Devil Denny Kearney was penalised for charging at Mathieu Roy and "The King" made him pay the price with a wrist shot that he fished past Hedley from inside the right circle, and then with Francis Verreault-Paul serving a cross checking minor Fretter put the biscuit across the crease and Roy was there to apply a simple finish at the back post for his second in as many minutes.

A much better performance from the team, one they will hope to build on as the games come quick and fast although Lightning's penalty woes didn't help their cause at all on the night.

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Steelers 6 Lightning 1

Steelers Scoring: Roy 2+1, Fretter 1+2, Dowd 1+1, Wallace 0+2, O'Connor 0+2, Matheson 1+0, Armstrong 1+0, D.Phillips 0+1, Nelson 0+1, Westerling 0+1.

Lightning Scoring: Essery 1+0, Isackson 0+1, Pompi 0+1.

Shots On Goal:  Steelers 43 Lightning 17

Powerplay: Steelers 4 from 9 (44% conversion), Lightning 0 from 5 (0% conversion)

Penalty Minutes called: Steelers 10 Lightning 18

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 16 Saves (560), GAA: 1.00 (2.37), Save Percentage 94.10% (91.70%)

Man of the Match: Joonas Ronnberg (Steelers), Kyle Essery (Lightning)

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