Sheffield Steelers 3-3 Nottingham Panthers
(after overtime)

Steelers missing Ryan Lake (groin), Brent Bobyck (elbow), but add old boys Les millie and Neil Able whilst new forward Jeff Christian made his debut. Panthers missing youngsters Daniel Scott and James Neil.

In this excellent advert for the sport, Sheffield took their first point in four games with a gutsy performance, whilst Panthers can only rue their early indiscipline and wonder why they only showed their true abilities in patches.

5012 saw these fierce rivals renew acquaintances and although Sheffield made all the early running, the opening goal had a sense of inevitability for Sheffield fans. Steelers first penalty (Darling, hooking) was punished as Konstantin Kalmikov popped up close-in to finish a neat passing move (4.57).

But Panthers started to take penalties off the play and when ex-Steeler Calle Carlsson joined Matt Myers in the penalty box, Sheffield made their two man advantage count when captain Dion Darling fired home with the goalie screened (16.07).

Seconds into the middle period Peron clashed with Craighead and they were joined in the box by Gerad Adams. Panthers camped around the Sheffield net but Platt didn't make a save. After returning to the game Peron was given time and space to wait for Cruickshanks to commit before wristing past the goalie (23.23).

A minute later Moran got on the end of a slick move but Platt came up with the save and Nottingham began to create the chances.

Seconds before the halfway point a long pass looked to have released Les Millie, but a Panthers defenceman jumped off the bench early on the change and checked Millie's progress. Steelers claimed a penalty shot but had to make do with a powerplay for Too Many Men.

Cruickshank had just one shot to save then Nottingham went back on the offensive and it was no surprise when Dave Clarke scored through traffic from the right wing (34.28).

The final period opened quietly. Craighead's right wing shot was just frozen by Platt. On his next shift Craighead's pass from low on the right was superbly converted by Dave Clarke as he dived towards the crease to reach the puck (45.11).

From then on Panthers really should have made the game safe, but nobody told Steelers and they kept plugging away. Home coach Rob Stewart called a timeout with 80 seconds left and 9 seconds later lifted Platt for an extra skater for the fourth successive game. This time the ploy worked with Shudra hitting a bullet through a sea of bodies (59.06) to force overtime.

Just 18 seconds into overtime Panthers strung a great passing move together but Carlsson missed the puck. With both sides chasing a winner, Mark Cadotte hit the inside of Platt's right post and Adams fished the puck out of the crease.