Joy ride for Sheffield Steelers despite transport issues

But it will take more than that to stall their incredible run of results.

The EIHL champions were detained for an hour on their 300-mile trip north, hardly ideal preparation for a tough game with Fife Flyers.

But they had enough in the tank to claim both points in a 4-2 win and maintain their 14-points advantage at the top of the table.

Flyers had pipped Sheffield 2-1 in their last duel at the Fife Ice Arena and lost by a single goal in the previous fixture north of the border.

The seventh-place Scots are fighting for a Play Off spot and anxious to secure enough points to guarantee a trip to the quarter-finals.

But after the delayed start, the hosts went behind when Robert Dowd opened the scoring at 9:15.

The advantage lasted just two minutes as Fife's top scorer Troy Lajeunesse engineered a goal for Kyle Osterberg.

Sheffield, who again had second-choice goalie Tony Morrone in goal, edged back ahead before the first interval.

Cole Shudra playing on a line with Scott Allen and Mark Simpson, scoring unassisted. Allen followed that with another unassisted marker for 3-1.

Flyers were not out of it though, they'd had as many shots on goal as the champions, and made one of them count through Drake Pilon.

So it was all set for a grandstand third period.

Fife had hit the post three times however it was Patrick Harper's five-hole shot that put the game beyond doubt, assisted by Brett Neumann with three minutes left.

Another win in a dead-rubber match illustrates how serious Sheffield remain, with the play offs in mind.

And this was a game in which they rested Colton Saucerman, Josh Nicholls, Matt Greenfield and Brandon Whistle, while bringing Marco Vallerand and Kevin Tansey back to the fold.

Steelers' regular season ends on former champions Belfast Giants' ice this weekend.