Sheffield Steelers 3-1 Belfast Giants

BBC Radio Sheffield presenter Toby Foster made a ceremonial puck drop as Christian Bronsard steps off the plane from Siberia to make his debut in goal for Sheffield. He only arrived in Sheffield at 3pm.

Sheffield at full strength (no Mark McCoy). As expected, Belfast are missing Colin Ward (broken foot).

Sheffield go 3 wins clear at the top of the Elite League before travelling to face Belfast at the Odyssey in 2 nights time.

Sheffield took an early lead when Mike Peron lashed home the rebound off the back boards from Dion Darling's left wing shot (2.55).

Shane Johnson and Rob Stewart twice tested Bronsard with Kirk DeWaele sitting an interference penalty, but then Giants ran into penalty problems and Sheffield's top points scorer Mark Dutiaume started icing on the powerplay.

When Shane Johnson took Giants third penalty at 14:28, Jason Bowen joined him just 9 seconds later for an extended 2 man advantage. Ryder made 5 big saves before Joel Irving took a penalty, but Giants failed to test Bronsard.

Bronsard started the second with a triple save from Mark Finney, Curt Bowen and Jason Ruff. Two minutes later Curt Bowen took a penalty and Mark Dutiaume rifled home off the bar from the right wing (24:03). Brad Kenny deflected Jason Bowen's shot at the near post but Bronsard was looking better and better. Another 4 minutes and Jason Ruff was blanked at the back door with Paul Sample's instinctive first time shot also turned aside and then a third stop which earned a standing ovation from the crowd of 3140.

Sheffield extended their lead slightly against the run of play, Brit Ben Bliss getting away down the right, his shot cannoned down off the bar but didn't cross the line. Marc LeFfebvre reacted before the goalie (32:41).

Giants killed another 2 penalties before netting on their second powerplay of the night. A schoolboy error saw Bronsard gift the puck to Finney and he buried the present (39:58).

Belfast applied a lot of pressure but Bronsard was in fine form and pulled off another stunning stop with 5 minutes left. Leigh Jamieson shot from the right, Bronsard kicked it out and Rob Stewart hit a screamer first time across the goalie, but his glove was there and Stewart could only shake his head.

Giants called a timeout in their own end with 72 seconds left but couldn't lift Ryder for the extra skater for another half a minute and Sheffield had the points.

Afterwards Sheffield coach Mike Blaisdell reckoned this was a below par performance by his team and he stressed the importance of playing much better in Belfast on Friday. Christian Bronsard also revealed that he had another offer from a Russian side but had already signed in Sheffield.