Sheffield Steelers 7-3 Hull Stingrays

Sheffield missing Steve Munn (foot), Hull missing Rick Kozak (suspended) and Slava Koulikov (shoulder).

Sheffield skated to a comfortable victory with a six goal middle period, half of these arriving on the powerplay. Six different scorers for the home side with Jeff Legue getting a brace. Hull never gave up and with Sheffield icing back-up Dan Green in the final period, Matt Reynolds and Lee Mitchell restored some respectability to the scoreline.

Doug Sheppard (9:39) opened the scoring from low on the right in a period dominated by the home side. Lehman did well to stop Reynold's deflection on Neumeier's powerplay shot and then gloved a Reynolds' right wing shot. But other than that it was one-way traffic to the away goal.

Randy Dagenais (20:52) doubled the lead with a shot from distance that Curtis Cruickshank got a piece of, but not enough. When Stuart Kerr took a holding penalty Joey Talbot won the face-off and Jeff Legue fired a bullet past Cruickshank (27:45). Pavel Gomenyuk's tripping penalty and Troy Neumeier's cross-checking penalty produced 32 seconds of 5-on-3 and Legue scored again in an amazing scramble (30:19). He seemed certain to score but 'Shanks made the save, the rebound falling to Sheppard who hit the bar with Legue squeezing the second rebound home at last. Hull called a timeout, but before Neumeier could return Rob Dowd (30:35) netted from the left wing.

Hull went straight to the Sheffield goal. Jody Lehman denied Lee Esders but as Hull swarmed around the home goal Jake Riddle found a way past Lehman (32:59).

Joey Talbot hit a screamer from the left wing (34:55) and although Sheffield kept Cruickshank busy Jeff Glowa popped up on the blind side for a seemingly easy chance, only to see Lehman glove the puck at full stretch. Just to rub the salt in a minute later Ashley Tait netted from close range (39:48).

A quiet final session saw Reynolds net a first-time strike at the back door (50:27) on a delayed penalty against Legue for hooking. Then Glowa played in Mitchell and he netted across Green from right of centre. Hull might have had more as Sheffield visibly took their foot off the gas.