Sheffield Steelers 6-3 Nottingham Panthers

Sheffield missing Nathan Gillies (elbow). Nottingham missing David Clarke.

6431 saw Sheffield win their big local derby coming from behind twice, as local lad Robert Dowd bagged three goals and Joey Talbot helped himself to a brace. Captain Jonathan Phillips got Steelers' first of the night. The margin might have been greater had they kept their discipline, but Panthers were given a 5-on-3 powerplay on two occasions and which brought them their goals. Player coach Corey Neilson had a hand in all three.

The opening period was all Sheffield, but at the end of it Panthers led 1-0 from just 4 shots, Johan Molin firing home (15:15) when Talbot (hooking) and Jason Hewitt (slashing) were sent to the box at 14:39. The home side had already wasted 2 full minutes of 5-on-3 themselves as Davis Parley made 2 saves. Parley was kept busy throughout the opening period with a key save from Phillips 17 seconds into Matt Myers' penalty. Halfway through the period Bruce Richardson boarded Ryan Finnerty and was then asessed an instigator 2+10 penalty as the pair dropped the gloves, which also earned each player a fighting major. Parley turned aside Sarich's shot, but Danny Meyers took a hooking penalty. Sarich popped up close in but Parley got his blocker there to make the save. Four minutes later he made a better one as Jeff Legue arrived at Parley's back post (left), but somehow the puck stayed out.

Sheffield again were the stronger throughout the middle session. Ferrara's penalty saw Parley deny Ashley Tait close in, with the puck falling nicely for Talbot who fired into the side netting from a tight angle. But Jonathan Phillips squeezed the puck home on the doorstep (25:22) after James Ferrara hauled down Ryan Finnerty. Halfway through the middle session Panthers took control, as Hewitt took a slashing penalty. The puck was fed to Bergin on the doorstop, Lehman making a double save and a further stop from Ndur. However the keeper was adjudged a slashing penalty and Panthers went 5-on-3. Kevin Bergin deflected home Neilson's shot 23 seconds later (29:25). Before Lehman's penalty had finished, Neilson had thundered a shot high into the net (30:44).

Sheffield were visibly angry with themselves and started to convert their dominance into goals as Dowd whipped in his first from the left (31:37) while ex-Steeler Dan Tessier sat a holding the stick penalty, and Talbot levelled bursting down the right to blast bewteen Parley's pads (35:22). With Sheffield rampant Dowd jinked from right to left to net backhanded from 10 feet (37:20) to edge Steelers into a deserved lead.

The home side concentrated on safety first throughout the final session and sealed the game when Dowd scored (57:07) and Talbot buried a rebound (58:16), both goals from close in with Panthers' defence nowhere. It might have been more as Rod Sarich rang the bar via Parley's glove. The visitors' cause was not helped by Rumun Ndur missing the final 11 minutes as he compounded his hooking penalty with a misconduct. Panthers certainly worked Lehman, but with the shots coming from distance, an equaliser looked remote.