Nottingham Panthers 4-1 Sheffield Steelers: Dominating win for Steelers in Nottingham

Sheffield's roster has had its share of positive tests, with Andreas Valdix, Matias Sointu and Barry Brust all suffering from illness.

But Armstrong says there is unity in the camp to pull through these troubled times and believes his fellow athletes, generally, are able to brush off the effects quite quickly, once they get infected.

The forward is upbeat - especially after their convincing win at Nottingham on Monday.

Armstrong said no Steeler had shown any resistance to following the EIHL vaccination mandate. He'd heard rumours that players elsewhere had been unhappy with the idea of jabs but nobody complained in Sheffield's dressing room.

His main worry wasn't the effects of the coronavirus on the individuals, more the damage it can do to the fixture list.

"Personally, I want to keep playing hockey as much as I can" he said.

"If you look at the leagues around the world, a lot of players catch Covid and seem to be back playing in a week or so.

"My biggest worry would be the League closing down, I just hope we can play."

The possibility of playing in an empty stadium doesn't appeal to the centreman.

"I have never experienced that, I didn't play in the mini-series, but I am sure it is weird. I don't know how teams would cope with that financially."

On Monday, Steelers went into the game at sold-out Nottingham anxious to hold on to their big points advantage at the top of the table.

They did so with gusto, claiming a 4-1 road win.

In their 20th league match, Steelers were without their illness victims, along with injured Daine Todd. But they were in snarly mood.

Seven minutes into the action, Robert Dowd waded into Mathieu Tousignant, landing some sweet right hands. That was followed 14 seconds later by a clash between instigator John Armstrong and Jordan Kelsall. Sam Jones was next in the box for roughing.

But with Rok Stojanovic unwavering in his positioning and halting 18 shots, the first period ended blank.

The Steeler goalie was in supreme form at the start of the second session, too.

But the most decisive contribution came from 18-year-old homegrown winger Alex Graham, who beat Kevin Carr for 1-0 at 34:39.

With the dam broken, Marco Vallerand helped himself to a second 29 seconds later.

The majority of the 6,820 fans were rocked to the core.

They thought they had scored at one point but Evan Mosey winched the puck off the goal line.

It was the home net that was breached again, Eberle scoring from Dowd.

Steelers blotted their copybook by conceding a Sean Richards short-handed goal at 56:28.

But Vallerand's empty-netter sealed an almost perfect night with Sheffield's fourth.

After winning all but one of their last nine games they are on the road to silverware.