Roy is King as Steelers defeat Panthers

Welcome to our match report from last night's game in Nottingham.

After losing their only game last weekend, Steelers headed down the M1 to face the Panthers at the NIC for the last time in regular season action. As reported earlier in the week, Steelers welcomed back Swedish forward Jonas Westerling back to the line-up. Westerling of course scored a straight hat-trick the last time the teams met here. It also meant that someone had to sit out to accommodate him, and Paul Thompson decided that it would be a fellow Swede in Andreas Jämtin would be the unlucky party. Panthers coach Corey Neilson's major choice was to decide who would get the start in net and it was Michael Garnett who did. Veteran British winger David Clarke, who announced his retirement from playing at the end of the season earlier in the week, featured in probably his last ever Panthers-Steelers game in the NIC.

Again we apologise for the short write-up, none of the usual team were in the NIC to watch the game and Panthers of course don't have a webcast either. We've managed to source some match detail elsewhere and have used that to formulate the below.

Both sides started well, creating chances in front of another sell out crowd. It took though just over 12 minutes for the first penalty to be called, Panthers utility man Eric Lindhagen for slashing even though the referee nearest the play didn't call it. Steelers couldn't take advantage of it but with 3:46 left in the period, opened the scoring. Ben O'Connor put Mathieu Roy in space and on a 2 on 1 against Panthers rookie defenceman Josh Tetlow with line-mate Colton Fretter. The pass was on point and Fretter had the simple task beating Garnett for his 17th of the season. Miika Franssila could have made it two moments later but put his shot when it looked a nailed on goal. That miss was punished at 17:48, Mike Vaskivuo getting that all important touch to beat Ervins Mustukovs. No further scoring ensued after that and the teams went into the first period break level.

Steelers have had some joy this season on shorthanded plays, and that rang true once more in the early stages of the middle period. With Mark Matheson serving a holding the stick minor, skipper Jonathan Phillips went up against Panthers Tim Billingsley and although the initial shot went wide of the mark: it caromed off the boards and the captain put his second effort in between Garnett's five-hole to restore the lead with his 7th of the campaign. Once more the lead didn't last long, 2:12 to be precise this time. A scramble in the Steelers zone saw the puck pinball around before Zack Phillips forced it home. Panthers then had a few chances to go ahead but Steelers held firm before launching a few attacks of their own which Panthers likewise held firm too.

With the score showing 2-2 and the teams locked also evenly at 21 shots on goal apiece, the stage was set to see what would happen in an all-important third period. The visiting Steelers fans didn't have to wait though to celebrate a third goal, 1:55 in actually. Some good play by Fretter saw him eventually seen off by Gagnon, albeit illegally as seen by the officials, and the puck eventually popped out to Roy who scored his 25th of the season from close-in. Could the Panthers get back into it? Well they did try, but Mustukovs was in the right place each time to shut the door whilst Garnett had to be alert as the Steelers looked for a fourth which would have given them some breathing space. Garnett was sacrificed for the extra skater with 1:22 left but Panthers couldn't get themselves set up to force an extra period and Steelers managed to hold on for another win in the NIC this season without any real panic or alarm.

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Panthers 2 Steelers 3

Steelers Scoring: Roy 1+1, Fretter 1+1, J.Phillips 1+0, Aarssen 0+1, Fitzgerald 0+1, Nelson 0+1, O'Connor 0+1.

Panthers Scoring: Phillips 1+0, Vaskivuo 1+0, Spang 0+1, Pither 0+1. 

Shots On Goal:  Steelers 35 Panthers 27 

Powerplay: Steelers 0 from 3 (0% conversion), Panthers 0 from 3 (0% conversion)

Penalty Minutes called: Steelers 6 Panthers 6

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 25 Saves (1252), GAA: 2.00 (2.34), Save Percentage: 92.60% (91.70%).

Man of the Match: Jonathan Phillips (Steelers), David Clarke (Panthers)

Thanks for reading guys. If you want to get involved please contact us on Twitter or find us on Facebook and like us and leave a comment:-

@FrozenSteelBlog

@FrozenSteelMNL

@FrozenSteelJr

@BTI_Podcast

@hockeybhoy

@Disgu15ed

@SedgyFergus

@georgefbarber

Check out Breaking The Ice Available to listen and download on iTunes and SoundCloud.

Or Email the team at Frozen Steel

You can also get involved in Steelers related discussions by joining the forums at Steel Talk