Nottingham Panthers 3 Sheffield Steelers 7 - Steelers hot-shots are back

After a three-in-four match losing streak, Sheffield needed to reverse the "downward spiral" their coach had warned of.

And, boy, did they do just that.

A 4-0 final period gave a one-sided feel to a game that Nottingham had been in for 40 minutes.

The result meant the Saturday night fixture table saw Sheffield remain top by two points over Belfast Giants, with a game in hand.

Sheffield had struggled in their last three games against third-placed Cardiff Devils, so they needed a morale-boosting performance against a fourth spot side from down the M1.

The emphatic nature of the scoreline meant Aaron Fox's team now has 60 points from 36 games.

Fox admitted it had been "a close hockey game for the majority of the night" until they pulled away.

"It was pretty important to us after the way we played on Wednesday (home defeat by Devils) the guys bounced right back, showed some character, and got back to playing our type of hockey."

Justin Hodgman scored 20 seconds into the game's first shift, followed at 13:08 by Martin Látal on the powerplay.

But the two-goal cushion was ripped away by Jeremy Welsh and Christophe Boivin.

The middle period was similarly drawn, Vojtech Polák and Brady Norrish goals cancelling each other out.

But a landslide of goals in an 11-minute spell put the result beyond doubt.

Polák's second was a forerunner to a special goal from Robert Dowd.

His strike took his Steelers total one past Jeff Legue in third spot of all-time Sheffield scorers. It was also his 300th in the Elite League (Steelers and Belfast.)

Tanner Eberle and an empty netter from John Armstrong sealed the 7-3 victory.

Attendance: 6,921.