Why Sheffield Steelers coach Aaron Fox changed a winning team after beating Cardiff Devils

Take Aaron Fox, at Sheffield Steelers. On Saturday, his side had chalked up what he later described as a "signature win" at rivals Cardiff Devils.

Sheffield had scored five goals in each of their last three games and were looking much more potent than they had been earlier in the EIHL campaign. Yet on the journey from home to Sheffield Arena the following day, the perfectionist in Fox kicked in. Yes, his side had produced the goods in Wales...but can it do even better?

Despite a winning sequence in 10 out of 12 games, the coach changed the Kristo-Raska-McNally line, switching Kristo to the centre with Dowd and Latal and established centreman Adam Raska suddenly popping up as a winger on a line with Pitule and McNally. The result was not another win with five goals - but one with six, a shut-out over Fife Flyers.

MORE: Steelers joint top after superb wins over Cardiff Devils and Fife Flyers

Fox reflected first on the Cardiff win, which he said had been an important one, especially as the Welsh had won in Sheffield on the opening day.

Yet in spite of that victory, the formations still needed tinkering with, he believed. The top line of Neumann-Allen-Ciampini had "carried" the team and he'd wanted more secondary scoring from other units.

He said he'd been looking for a different look with his second and third lines as he hadn't found what he'd been looking for.

"Kristo has played some centre before and moving Raska to the wing I felt that might open up his offensive game a little bit" he explained.

With Pitule blossoming in his centreman role, it allowed Fox to try Raska to become "more fluid" on the wing.

"Honestly when I got to the rink I felt like a little change needed to be made and it was good to see how it worked out."

Fox added that his players' confidence had risen in the final period against Fife after fourth-line centre Brandon Whistle had made it 3-0, and the team's "outstanding" penalty kill had contributed two goals. Steelers have played four lines all year long allowing them to have extra gas in the tank over the weekend's endeavours, said Fox. And he was delighted too by the run of seven wins in eight on the road.

Away from home, he said: "You don't have to play to the crowd and can dummy the game down a little bit. And great goaltending gives you a chance to win every night."

The four-point weekend saw Sheffield go top of the league, on joint points with Guildford Flames. As always, Belfast Giants are coming up hard on the rails, their 5-4 win at Coventry Blaze on Sunday means they have won all but one of their four league games.

No other team can match Sheffield's attendance figures: Steelers have attracted an average of 5,782 at this early stage of the season, with Nottingham Panthers in second place with 4,707 and Belfast third with 4,576.

Defenceman Sebastien Piche will miss the next three games, as his Prague-based partner has given birth to their first child.

Fox said: “Sebastien is flying to Prague to spend time with Medina and newborn daughter, Stefania, who was born on Saturday morning.

“This is such an important event in his life that we wanted to be as accommodating as possible. He gave us a great effort on the weekend and are so happy for him. We will be without him for the Wednesday game and the weekend Cup games. He will be back early next week to prepare for the games on the 29th/30th”.