Sheffield Steelers 1-3 Edinburgh Capitals

Sheffield at full strength, Capitals borrow Pasi Raitanen in goal as Michel Robinson has not arrived from Canada yet.

2902 saw Pasi Raitanen deservedly take the man of the match award for his side in his first game since December 07. He stopped 50 out of 51 shots as his side snatched an early lead and added the flukiest goal you'll see all season. With the sides skating 4 on 4, Taylor Christie went up the right and scored from close in (5:35). Then with Ashley Tait sitting a hooking penalty, player coach Doug Christiansen played the puck up the plexi on the right. Steelers goalie Jody Lehman skated across to meet it but it took a ricochet off one of the plexi stanchions and bounced into the far side of the unguarded net (8:44).

From then on Edinburgh had the luxury of piling bodies in front of their goalie, blocking even more shots than Raitanen saved. When Joey Talbot took a hooking penalty plus a misconduct, Christiansen and Andrej Rajcak planted themselves in front of the net. Christie's left wing pass was backhanded at goal by Rajcak and Christiansen squeezed home the rebound (29:19).

Jeff Legue first-timed a scorcher from the right wing (52:26) but it was too little too late for the home side, despite pulling Lehman for the extra skater during a powerplay at 58:22.

With Adam Stefishen sitting an early penalty for holding, Raitanen gave a taste of what was to follow stopping 5 shots. When Scott Hay hooked Jason Hewitt at his own blue line, the pair both headed for the box. Capitals took just 12 seconds to score as Christie made it look all too easy. Capitals continued to press and the rebound from Stefishen's shot fell nicely for Christiansen who hit the puck behind Lehman, but wide of the far post. Lehman had 2 more saves to make until the sides returned to full strength.

Tait's hooking penalty was taken stopping another raid for 21 seconds of 4 on 3. Only Joe Dustin tested Lehman before Hay and Hewitt returned. Dustin and Shawn Germain forced further saves before Christiansen scored via the plexi.

Ian Bowie's tripping penalty brough another 5 saves from Pasi and Capitals' only shots at the other end arrived with Steve Munn sitting a high sticks penalty.

The middle period continued in the same vein with Edinburgh netting on only their second shot of the period, though what a well-worked goal it was as Christiansen and Rajcak used their size to maximum advantage. Sheffield immediately called a time-out. Meanwhile Sheffield's forwards struggled to find the room to hit clean, crisp shots whilst being unable to bundle home rebounds against the burly visiting defence.

The final session saw comparatively few chances for either side, though Ashley Tait had a glorious chance going across the front of the net but found the pads when he needed to lift the puck. Rod Sarich's pass across the zone found Legue in space for the first time and he made no mistake. The home crowd started to get behind their side but few chances came as Capitals kept getting bodies in the way to protect their lead. With 3 minutes remaining Capitals used their time-out for a breather rather than a tactical re-group. And despite Christie's late penalty and Sheffield lifting Lehman for 6 on 4, Edinburgh never looked like allowing Sheffield to get any closer.