The Sheffield Steelers continued their fine form with a 3-0 win over the Guildford Flames on Wednesday evening.
Traffic around the Steel City caused the face-off to be delayed by 30 minutes, with thousands of fans unable to make the original time of 7:30.
The home side started off second-best, and Matt Greenfield’s net faced a flurry of shots, especially during an early Flames powerplay.
Dominic Cormier was forced to clear the puck off the line after it looped over the head of Greenfield.
Niklas Nevalainen’s excellent work to bring the puck all the way through to the Flames zone while short-handed provided some respite, and could have been a pivotal moment in the game.
The Steelers, just nine seconds after returning to full strength, were on a powerplay of their own, and even had over a minute of 5-on-3 play after Ben O’Connor was sent to the penalty box for boarding.
The Steelers failed to capitalise, creating very few shooting opportunities, and the seconds ticked away as they moved the puck around the ice at a snail’s pace.
Just before the Flames were back to full strength, Mike Crocock’s hooking penalty gave them an opportunity to right the wrongs of their previous penalty play, but again, no dice.
The rest of the first period favoured the Steelers, with the powerplays perhaps tiring the away side out, and just a few minutes into the second, they were ahead.
Kevin Tansey’s excellent work in the crease paced way for GB captain Robert Dowd to fire a shot goalwards that was saved, but dropped perfectly for Mitchell Balmas to sneak in and put home the rebound.
9,000 sighs of relief in the Sheffield Arena.
The Steelers continued to pepper Eamon McAdam’s net, and Colton Saucerman’s long-range hit came to Brandon Whistle who was crashing the net, and he angled the rebound into the goal from wide. A terrific finish. 2-0!
Pretty in Pink 🩷#SteelersHockey pic.twitter.com/dp0yjLYGvY
— Sheffield Steelers (@steelershockey) February 15, 2024
The third period was all about Matt Greenfield, as he made some remarkable saves to deny Guildford’s attempts to get back into the game, including while short-handed.
Marco Vallerand said goodnight, and he smashed home a powerplay goal (finally) after Brett Ferguson was admonished for goalie interference.
His goal from Balmas and Dan Ciampini was enough to slow the Flames’ attempts to salvage from the game, and the Steelers continue to reign supreme in the EIHL, standing fourteen points clear of their closest rivals.
MOTM went to Niklas Nevalainen, and his work, along with Cormier’s clearance on the penalty kill, may well be looked at as the moments that truly got the win for the Steelers.
Final score: Sheffield Steelers 3-0 Guildford Flames.
GOALS:
Steelers: #92 Mitchell Balmas, from #75 Robert Dowd and #6 Kevin Tansey at 24:30
#74 Brandon Whistle from #23 Colton Saucerman and #8 Zach Vinnell at 32:47
#88 Marc-Olivier Vallerand from #92 Mitchell Balmas and #12 Daniel Ciampini at 50:02 (PP)
Featured Image Credit: @steelershockey via X
