Ice hockey: Victories over Manchester Storm and Nottingham Panthers put Sheffield Steelers on the right track

On Saturday they put seventh-placed Nottingham Panthers to the sword (4-1) and on Sunday, they dismissed sixth-spot Manchester Storm (3-1.)

Job done. Now Sheffield not only need to carry on with this welcome return to winning ways, but must repeat it against other teams in the EIHL top four.

With only nine games left – two each against Belfast Giants, Guildford Flames, and Cardiff Devils – the pressure is on to clean up in the way they did in December’s highly-successful 11-game run.

Aaron Fox said the squad, after “a lot of straight-talking” was determined to turn “this ship around”.

The side was certainly buoyed by Sunday’s 3-1 Coventry Blaze win over leaders Belfast.

At Sheffield Arena on the same evening, the opening segment was a representation of the challenge Fox’s squad faces.

Steelers scored in 34 seconds, through Matt Petgrave after two chances that came even earlier.

Manchester were in survival mode.

But they couldn’t stop Marco Vallerand.

He had been suffering from sickness so badly that he’d asked for a vomit bucket near the bench, but that didn’t stop him skating in from the right wing and rifling home.

But then, as so often in the last dozen games, there was a problem.

Davey Phillips’ clearance was intercepted and Cole Carter got one back for the Mancunians.

Anthony DeLuca then thought he’d scored against his old employers but fortunately for Steelers, it was washed out.

What followed in the following 20-minute segment was not easy on the eye for the 6,281 in the stands - a tangle of arms and legs rather than any discernible pattern.

It was all hard work rather than quality execution.

Niklas Nevalainen took a puck in the face, so the period wasn’t much fun for him either.

Storm, smarting from a 9-2 collapse at home to Guildford Flames the previous night and with two fewer skaters, dedicated their approach to defending well and countering when they could.

The visitors became more adventurous with Tyler Barrow and Cole creating decent chances.

Despite the fact the under-the-weather Vallerand had disappeared from view, the game was won at 52:08 when Daniel Ciampini fired in off goalie Jeremy Brodeur’s shoulder.

An important and morale-boosting win was assured.

On Saturday, Sheffield brought an end to their three-loss streak at Nottingham.

Peyton Jones, Panthers’ netminder, defied a Brett Neumann breakaway and a Jonathan Phillips tip to keep the game scoreless in the opening minutes.

But they soon got the better of through Neumann and Daniel Ciampini, who profited from Jones getting his stick caught in the side netting.

After recent matches, it had been a first period that Steelers had desperately needed.

And, despite the odd scare, they held on to the 2-0 lead in the following bracket with Matt Greenfield solid in the away net and Petgrave hitting a post.

If Sheffield had been frustrated by recent games, they vented it at the Motorpoint Arena, with Scott Allen’s bullet shot and Brendan Connolly’s breakaway lighting up the board.

Panthers’ only consolation was breaking Greenfield’s shutout with a shorthanded goal from Stephen Anderson with a minute left on the clock.

Coach Aaron Fox said the performance had been “the response we needed.”