08 Oct 2023, 17:30 | Regular season | SkyDome Arena |
Coventry Blaze | 2-5 | Sheffield Steelers |
Periods: Shots: | 0-2 (18-29) | 0-2 (4-18) | 1-0 (16-13) | Total: 38-60 |
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Referees: Wells/Dalton  |  Spectators: 1964 |
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Goals and assists
Sheffield Steelers produced an excellent opening two period to race
into a four-goal lead en route to a 5-2 win over Coventry Blaze on
Sunday afternoon.
Out-shooting their hosts 17-8 in the opening
period, the Steelers led by two after 20 minutes. Brett Neumann opened
the scoring at 13:08 when he followed up a Mikko Juusola shot with the
puck sitting in Taran Kozun's crease. JD Dudek showed nice hands to
create a great chance for himself but could beat Matt Greenfield shortly
after, and the Steelers then punished that missed opportunity when
Robert Dowd's shot snuck through Kozun with 3:59 left in the period.
4:14
into period two, Mark Simpson beat Kozun short side with another the
Blaze goalie would likely want back to put the home side in a hole.
Coventry had their chances at the other end but without really calling
Greenfield into any serious work, and five minutes before the
intermission Daniel Ciampini's shot produced a juicy rebound for Dowd to
fire home and make it 4-0.
Danny Kristo netted against his former
team to get the Blaze on the board at 48:56, 14 seconds after which
Aaron Fox called his timeout to steady the Steelers. Kobe Roth brought
the hosts back to within two with 6:07 to play and gave the Blaze a new
lease of life. Kozun was pulled at 56:26 for the extra attacker gamble,
but the Steelers only needed 11 seconds to find the empty net.