Sheffield Steelers scored a couple of 2nd period goals and added extra breathing room in the 3rd on the way to a 3-0 win over the visiting Flames.
After an early powerplay, Flames had to kill 3 straight penalties, including a lengthy 3 on 5 situation just to remain scoreless through the opening frame.
Less than 5 minutes into the 2nd, Steelers got the scoring started off the stick of Mitchell Balmas and Brandon Whistle doubled their lead inside the back half of the period.
In the 3rd, with just under 10 minutes remaining, Marc-Olivier Vallerand netted the last of the night on the powerplay to close out the contest.
Eamon McAdam made 37 saves on 40 tries and Matt Greenfield had the shutout with an unblemished record on 31 shots.
“We had a few spots where we looked pretty good, but not nearly enough against a team of that calibre,” admitted Paul Dixon.
“We had an early powerplay and some good chances before the run of penalty killing in that first period, and that didn’t set us up well for the night.”
“We got out of the direct danger at the time, and did a good job to do so, but some guys didn’t get into the game early enough because it was a long enough stretch with just PK skaters and it just pushed the momentum against us, and maybe even fatigued a few guys early on. There were some windows that followed where we did some good things, at both ends of the rink, but against this team you need that happening pretty well all night.”
“We have a big weekend coming up, and we will be hungry to be a lot better across the weekend which includes a trip to Coventry Saturday and then another look at Steelers Sunday when they visit Spectrum.”
