Sheffield Steelers 1OT1 Newcastle Vipers

Sheffield missing Regan Kelly and Stevie Duncombe, Newcastle missing Paul Ferone, Mel Anglestadt and Simon Leach.

Newcastle pick up their first point against Sheffield as goalie Trevor Koenig turns aside 45 shots.

Sheffield dominated the chances from start to finish, but until Newcastle tired in the third period the Vipers always looked likelier to score.

Andre Payette opened the scoring, bundling the puck in at the crease off his skate (36:46) with Mike Peron bagging a rebound (48:49) to take the game into overtime.

The tone was set in the opening ten minutes with Shaun Johnson and David Longstaff whipping in menacing shots from 12 feet whilst the home side were mainly shooting from distance.

Andrew Luciuk and Martin Massa both blazed chances wide, whilst Mike Peron had a pair of chances close-in but the puck wouldn't run.

Jody Lehman produced two excellent stops after Pavlo Gromeniuk stepped out of the box to drill in a shot from the right, and in the pile-up for the loose puck Gromeniuk brought out the best in Lehman from 8 feet.

Sheffield started to gain control with Kent Simpson skating across the front but unable to finish. Five minutes later Mark Dutiaume burst out of defence and pulled the same move, Koenig shutting the door at full stretch. A few minutes later Peron found Massa arriving 8 feet out, but Koenig made the stop.

Newcastle cleared their zone from the resulting face-off and took the play to the other end, Payette netting a pass from low on the right.

Two minutes later Peron became the third player to skate across the front but Koenig was not to be beaten.

The final period started with few chances as both sides tired, but when Ron Shudra fired in from the left Peron arrived at speed to first-time the rebound at point-blank range, and Steelers were level at last.

Andre Payette might have doubled his tally for the night 4 minutes later, as Vipers broke away 3-on-2. Payette's shot came straight back to him and as he shaped to fire again Peron checked him clean off his feet and the chance was gone.

The home side increased the pressure but somehow never looked likely to find another way past Vipers Man of the Match, Trevor Koenig.