Sheffield Steelers 6 Fife Flyers 2: Comfortable triumph keeps Steelers top

They rarely looked in trouble at the Arena against a depleted team that appeared exhausted at the end of their shifts.

Aaron Fox's men have now won seven out of their last nine games, and are finding the consistency they crave.

Steelers had been looking to maintain their 100 per cent scoreline domination over Fife, having won their three previous games, two away.

But they didn't find it easy in the early stages, with Fife happy to absorb pressure and mount clever raids on the counter.

Chase Schaber fired wide after one such breakaway and Carlo Finucci also threatened Tomas Duba's net.

The Scots even went ahead at 3:38 when a smart passing move allowed James Livingston an easy tap-in.

Sheffield were running hot and cold - for instance Marco Vallerand sliced a decent chance wide but then back checked brilliantly to stop Paul Crowder adding another.

Nikolai Lemtyugov was left shaking his head when he shot the puck straight into Adam Morrison's glove from a couple of feet out.

Eventually a moment of magic ensured Steelers were back in it with Eric Meland whipping around the back of Fife's net and back-handing in for 1-1 at 11:51.

Steelers had threatened on an earlier power play with Anthony DeLuca and Ben O'Connor prompting from the point.

And they went ahead just 10 seconds after Finucci was called for slashing, Vallerand scoring his third goal in three games.

Sheffield controlled the vast majority of the second period, despite losing the services of point-a-game centre John Armstrong.

DeLuca put the home side 3-1 up with a wrist shot on the power play, with ex Steeler Scott Aarssen sitting in the box, for holding.

And while Fife had a stroke of luck when Finucci's shot deflected off Ben O'Connor into Duba's net, Steelers hit right back, with Vallerand gobbling up a breakaway chance for 4-2, at 37:29.

The Scots blew any remote chance of getting back into the game by failing to score on a five on three power play.

Instead, they had to watch goals from Michael Davies and returning-from-injury Robert Dowd.

It was their fourth loss this campaign against Steelers - how they must dislike playing this South Yorkshire team.