16 Feb 2025, 16:00 | Regular season | Sheffield Arena |
Sheffield Steelers | 5-2 | Belfast Giants |
Periods: Shots: | 0-1 (6-7) | 0-1 (10-14) | 5-0 (14-9) | Total: 30-30 |
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Referees: #25 Andy Dalton, #14 Chris Wells  |  Spectators: 8672 |
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Goals and assists
Five goals in the final 13 minutes of the third period saw Sheffield
Steelers turn a 0-2 deficit into a 5-2 home win over Belfast Giants on
Sunday afternoon.
Robert Dowd’s two goals saw him tie Steve Nemeth’s all-time goals record for the Steelers.
It was a very defensive opening period in Sheffield with both
sides well aware of the significance of the game. Ben Lake had the
Giants’ best half-chance of the opening phases, while a Robert Dowd tip
called Jackson Whistle into early work.
The visitors went ahead just 14 seconds after the Steelers killed
off a penalty, Josh Roach being left in lots of space on the off side
to wrist home past matt Greenfield glove side with 13:15 played. David
Goodwin saw a shot come back off the post shortly after goal as the
Giants almost doubled their advantage.
Jeff Baum’s excellent block prevented Mitchell Balmas having a
clear shot at goal from the slot inside the final 10 seconds of the
period as the Steelers ended the first strong, but behind.
It took just 54 second-period seconds for the Giants to go two
ahead. With the puck round Greenfield, it worked its way to David
Goodwin off Kevin Tansey’s skate to finish well from close range to
double the visitors’ advantage.
For a seven or so minute spell, the teams played more open
leading to chances at both ends. Sasha Guimond’s slapshot needed a
Whistle save and snow angel to cover the puck, while Patrick Watling
couldn’t get the puck to settle quick enough to wrist high into
Whistle’s net towards the end of the period. The home side also hit a
post in the second, while the Giants were doing well forcing the
Steelers into turnovers in their own end to create chances on
Greenfield.
Marc-Olivier Vallerand's bar-down finish from the high slot out
of nothing brought the home side back into things with 13 minutes to
play, and crucially got their 8,672-storng crowd more into things. The
Giants then took a Too many men on the ice call after a slow line
change, and were punished when a perfect Mitchell Balmas pass landed
straight on the stick of Robert Dowd at the top of the crease to tie the
game with 6:43 to play. Three minutes later, a broken play led to Dowd
blasting the puck through Whistle’s five-hole to put the home side
ahead.
Whistle was pulled with two minutes to play, but just nine
seconds later Patrick Watling found the empty net from his own zone to
put the home side two clear. Brandon Whistle scored into another empty
net as the Giants rolled the dice again with 52 seconds to go to seal a
5-2 win.