Sheffield Steelers 3-1 Nottingham Panthers

Sheffield without Phil Hill (broken foot) and Shawn Maltby (hernia), ex-Panther Paul Moran makes his debut. Nottingham do not ice Mike Ellis after releasing Steve Simoes last Monday.

6326 saw Sheffield keep up their unbeaten record against their big rivals this season with ex-Panther Dan Tessier netting two (31:22 and 59:28). David Clarke pulled Panthers back into this one (53:27) after Ryan Finnerty had doubled Sheffield's lead (46:41). All but the last goal were powerplay strikes. Panthers had 2 goals disallowed whilst Sheffield wasted 2 separate 5-on-3 advantages.

Tessier rifled home from the left with Panthers goalie Rastislav Rovnianek on the floor. Finnerty backhanded home high across the goalie from close-in with Clarke scoring a similar strike to Tessier after an almighty scramble. Tessier's insurance marker was a simple tap-in at the back post following a break-out.

Just 25 seconds in this game had fans out of their seats when Clarke deflected Jan Krajicek's shot past Jody Lehman but ref Nigel Boniface adjudged him to have used his hand. Soon after Finnerty took an early charging penalty and Jody Lehman was turning aside 4 shots, including a superb stop from Rod Stevens close in.

Jason Hewitt's check on Corey Neilson behind the Panthers net lead to a big scuffle with Neilson, Moran, James Ferrara and Mark Thomas all getting 4 minutes for roughing, Hewitt and James Cooke taking fighting penalties with Hewitt getting an additional boarding penalty.

Back on the powerplay Sean McAslan and Clarke forced stops. Soon after Sheffield returned to full strength Warren Tait's tripping penalty put them back on the penalty kill which saw Lehman busy again.

Neilson's interference penalty and McAslan's slashing penalty gave Steelers 75 seconds of 2 man advantage and Panthers goalie made an excellent stop from Sutter after Tessier drilled a pass acrosss the goal from the right.

Sheffield kept up the momentum but it was Lehman blanking Matt Myers at his right post that kept the scores level.

With the sides 4-on-4 matus Petricko arrived close-in to put a great chance wide not long after Neilson also missed the target when well-placed.

107 seconds into the second period Panthers were denied a second "goal" when Myers beat Hewitt at a face-off and the ref signalled a delayed penalty against Hewitt for holding the stick. Lehman blocked Neilson's shot and the ref whistled for the penalty just before Myers forced the puck home. Lehman made 3 saves on the penalty kill including one from Ryan Shmyr from close-in.

Ferrara's hooking penalty and Petricko's slashing call gave Sheffield another 73 seconds of 5-on-3 but only 2 saves before Panthers were back to full strength.

Rod Stevens drilled a powerful shot at Lehman from the left on the next powerplay, but when the same player took an interference minor denying Jonathan Phillips Sheffield at last found a way past Rovnianek.

Shane Johnson's shot was blocked and with the goalie on the floor Tessier shot into the top of the net.

Joe Carderelli forced a big pad save, whilst at the other end Finnerty twice put chances wide, backhanding wide of the far post from the left then firing over the top of the near post from the right.

With Shaun Sutter sitting a holding penalty, Stevens tried driving the net from the left but Lehman kept the puck out and back at full strength Rovnianek did well to hold onto Regan Darby's fierce shot with Sutter waiting for the rebound.

Early in the final period Carderelli's right wing shot left Lehman on the floor but his defence tidied up. The same player had another effort turned aside then Phillips hit the post at the other end.

Krajicek elbowed Tessier on the boards and Finnerty made the powerplay count to double the lead.

Sheffield had the momentum now and Shmyr's interference penalty saw a great save from Finnerty again at the back post after a pass from the right. Shmyr didn't help his side's cause with a 10 minute misconduct.

But Moran's slashing penalty put the visitors back on the powerplay and this time they found a way to score. Clarke's right wing shot rebounded to Stevens close-in but Lehman made a second stop. As play swept round the back of the net, Lehman sprawled across his net and with everyone diving in front Clarke shot the puck home over the bodies from the left.

Now Panthers had the momentum with Neilson and McAslan testing Lehman. But Sheffield held firm and instead a sweet passing move saw Hewitt find Tessier at the back post for an easy goal in the dying seconds.