Fife Flyers v Sheffield Steelers: Six-hit Steelers have Scot a lot to cheer

In a bizarre twist to the schedule, Sheffield are in the middle of a spell in which nine out of 11 appointments are with teams from north of the border....five of them away.

Sunday's game at Fife was one of those and, after a bumpy start where they went two down, Steelers composed themselves and rediscovered their shooting accuracy with six unanswered goals.

It's a huge confidence booster, with a busy February looming.

Steelers had dropped two points at Dundee Stars the previous Sunday and were soon under the cosh in Kirkcaldy; after 29 seconds Jacob Benson put Flyers in the lead.

Matias Sointu almost grabbed one back, but Greg Chase profited from a Steelers' turnover, scoring with a fine drive at 3:52.

If things were going badly, it threatened to become worse as Keaton Ellerby's face was mangled by the puck and a Matt Carter shot bounced off Rok Stojanovic's post.

Fife had sent just five shots at Rok...yet they boasted a 2-0 interval lead.

Justin Hodgman finally beat the home goalie at 25:10.

The same line conjured up an equaliser 12 minutes later, Tanner Eberle illustrating his improved form with his third-weekend point.

Steelers had climbed back from two down and now switched from survival mode to ruthless predator.

Hodgman's line cracked the defence again for their go-ahead goal at 41:44, Sointu staking his 25th point of the season.

Sheffield then turned on the after-burners.

Martin Latal fed Marco Vallerand for 4-2 (shorthanded) before Latal went one better and notched himself two minutes later.

Tommaso Traversa weighed in with the sixth at the death.

A game that could have been lost had been, in the end, comfortably won

*Saturday's game, against the same opposition, saw a Steelers' profligacy in front of goal that was, frankly, bemusing to witness.

Flyers' goalie Shane Owen put his usual highly competent shift in. But out of 50 shots on him, he didn't have to pull off many 'miracle' saves, hinting at wastefulness.

In fairness, it was Sheffield's 10th successive Arena win, so they are clearly observing the cliché that their home must be a fortress.

After Vallerand and Polak's goals, the fans settled down expecting more, but the next net-bound puck was past Barry Brust, at 56:07. With Ellerby sitting a penalty at 56:50, Flyers seemed odds-on for a surprise, regulation-time draw, but Polak's empty-netter (the team's 100th league goal of the season) deflated them.

Meanwhile, Coach Aaron Fox says he does not expect injured defenceman Davey Phillips to be out "too long." The GB skater was rested over the weekend and with no looming midweek fixture, he should be ready to play against Dundee Stars on Saturday.