Mat Robson celebrated his second consecutive shutout on the Utilita Area in Sheffield, stopping all 40 photographs he confronted as Coventry Blaze skated away with a 2-0 victory over the Steelers.
“I had each emotion potential coming in right here tonight,” mentioned Colton Saucerman, who confronted the Steelers for the primary time since becoming a member of Coventry in the summertime. “I wished to win this sport, however it feels bizarre profitable right here in opposition to Sheffield. It was emotional at the beginning however as soon as the sport began I settled in.”
A goalless opening interval wasn’t with out probabilities in Sheffield. Either side got here by penalty kills to maintain the sport scoreless, whereas Stephen Harper got here closest to breaking the impasse inside the ultimate minute of the interval however noticed his effort come again off the within of Robson’s submit.
“It was a tough sport, we thought we dominated the play however ran right into a sizzling goalie,” mentioned Kyle Watson, who made his EIHL debut for the Steelers after rising up as a boyhood fan of the crew. “My first sport right here was once I was about two weeks outdated, so it was a very long time coming to make my debut for this crew. However when the puck drops it’s a must to concentrate on the sport. I attempted to play robust and maintain it easy, and I felt assured on the market.”
Coventry created the higher probabilities to start interval two and have been deservedly forward simply over seven minutes in. A damaged stick because the Blaze broke 2-on-1 put the puck into the trail of Archie Hazeldine, who roofed it into Matt Greenfield’s high nook.
Having seen the Steelers begin the third interval on the assault, the Blaze broke and doubled their lead when Jack Hopkins performed the puck throughout the crease for Kim Tallberg to fit dwelling previous a helpless Greenfield 2:33 into the ultimate body.
Sheffield pushed for a aim however simply couldn’t discover a well past Robson. On the different finish, the Blaze have been solely a deflection away from scoring on the empty internet however held on to rejoice a superb win.
“It’s a really robust constructing to return and play in, however it was an enormous and essential sport to maintain us shifting up within the Cup standings,” concluded Saucerman. “We got here in and simply tried to play exhausting, and Robson stood on his head.”
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