Welcome to the match report from Saturday's game at the House Of Steel against Guildford.
Steelers were back in the bread and butter this weekend after the Continental Cup adventure the week previous. Their opponents on the Saturday night were first year Elite League club Guildford Flames, who have had a great opening season so far. The Flames started Saturday's game one place and one point in front of the Steelers, although Paul Thompson's men had a match in hand over the Surrey based side. Team news saw the Steelers stretched by suspension (Zack Fitzgerald and Andreas Jรคmtin) and injury (Kieran Brown, Robert Dowd and John Armstrong). It meant a reshuffle of the lines and a rare outing as a forward for Cole Shudra. Flames, coached by one-time Steeler Paul Dixon, had no such issues and iced Geoff Walker in their roster who featured in the Steelers play-off win last season as Davey Phillips' brother Kevin.
The game also saw the home debut of winger Eric Neiley who joined the Steelers ahead of the Belfast double header, and the new boy couldn't have scripted the start to his opening shift in his new home as he fired the Steelers into the lead with his 1st of the season and only with 1:45 played in the opening period. It was an entertaining game with Guildford proving that their league position was no fluke as they had chances of their own. They duly equalised with a shade over four minutes left in that opening twenty, Kruise Reddick escaping down the wing and then feeding top scorer John Dunbar who scored at the second attempt via Ervins Mustukovs' pad. Yet Steelers would end the period 2-1 ahead, Mathieu Roy scoring his 14th of the season in typical Roy fashion: a greasy goal from out in front.
Steelers extended the lead further early in the second period with a goal on a delayed penalty call against Dunbar, Roy the scorer of his second of the night and 15th of the season with an effort that Chris Carrozzi got a piece of but couldn't keep out. It became 4-1 at 27:16 with a powerplay strike from the stick of Ben O'Connor who scored his 10th of the season although great credit must go to Roy for providing such a brilliant screen. Five minutes later and the Steelers had gone nap, a wonderful backhand finish by Liam Kirk over Carrozzi for the forward's 4th goal of the season. Former NHL draft pick Carrozzi was having to work hard as he was put under pressure by the irrepressible home side but was keeping his side in it. Flames were still competing despite the score and reduced the margin to 5-2 with 43 seconds left in the second period, Rhett Rachinski getting the final touch for a powerplay strike whilst Scott Aarssen sat a hooking minor.
The final period was a penalty strewn affair at the start as some plays became a bit more tense but Steelers still held sway. It got interesting with 9:59 left when Flames scored their third of the night; a scramble left Mustukovs prone and out of the play then leaving Walker to mark his return back to Sheffield with one of the easiest finishes he could wish for and send the large contingent of visiting fans very happy indeed. Yet Steelers got their focus back on it, and added a sixth with just under four minutes left when Flames lost possession in their own zone and allowed Levi Nelson to walk in unchallenged, fake a shot which pulled Carrozzi out of position and then tuck home his 13th of the season. The icing came at 58:58 when the impressive Neiley set up new line-mate Andreas Valdix to blast home a one timer for the Swedish centre's 10th of the season.
Time for the statistics:
Goals: Steelers 7 Flames 3
Steelers Scoring: Neiley 1+2, Nelson 1+2, O'Connor 1+2, Roy 2+0, Valdix 1+1, Westerling 0+2, Kirk 1+0, Aarssen 0+1, Franssila 0+1, J.Phillips 0+1, Wallace 0+1, Fretter 0+1.
Flames Scoring: Walker 1+1, Ferguson 0+2, Rachinski 1+0, Dunbar 1+0, Watters 0+1, Reddick 0+1, Lundin 0+1.
Shots On Goal: Steelers 33 Flames 34
Powerplay: Steelers 1 from 5 (20% conversion), Flames 1 from 4 (25% conversion)
Penalty Minutes called: Steelers 12 Flames 14
Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 31 Saves (897), GAA: 3.00 (2.26), Save Percentage: 91.20% (91.70%).
Man of the Match: Eric Neiley (Steelers), Geoff Walker (Flames)
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