Following a 4-3 victory in Coventry the previous night the Sheffield Steelers returned to the Sheffield arena looking to make it 3 wins out of 3 in the challenge cup standing in our we this time was the defending cup champions and our biggest rivals the Nottingham Panthers. The crowd of just over 7000 fell silent (apart from a few hundred panthers fans) as within 4 minutes Ollie Bettridge and Alex Nikiforuk gave the panthers a 2-0 lead. Levi Nelson would half the gap at 11:59 and 7 seconds after the puck dropped to restart the game Colton Fretter would tie the game at 12:06 as the 1st period would end all square at 2-2. Steelers captain Jonathan Phillips would give the steelers the lead at 29:30 and at 36:00 Ben O'Connor would give the steelers a 2 goal lead however Nikiforuk would get his 2nd goal of the game on the powerplay at 38:42 to end the 2nd period at 4-3. The panthers would draw level at 43:23 as the crowd became very nervous that despite a great attacking performance a poor defence would cost us the game. However the nerves had gone 3 and a half minutes later as goals from Andreas Valdix, Colton Fretter and Mathieu Roy would give the steelers a 7-4 lead. Bettridge's 2nd goal of the game would cut the lead back down to 2 however that would be the final goal of the game but not the last of the action as former steeler Chris Lawrence paired off with Guillaume Desbiens with 4 and a half minutes to go with Guillaume absolutely destroying Lawrence. Final score Sheffield Steelers 7 Nottingham Panthers 5
Final thoughts: Defence really need to improve. The final scoreline really flattered Nottingham.
My man of the match: I have to give it to Desbiens for battering Lawrence
Next weekend: The steelers will look to secure there place in the quarter finals of the challenge cup as on Saturday we travel to the NIC for the return game against the panthers before we entertain the Cardiff Devils on Sunday
