Game Summary
A first goal of the season for Niklas Nevalainen came in three on three overtime to seal a four point weekend for the Steelers as they came away from Altringham with victory over the Manchester Storm this evening.
A brace from Patrick Watling was added to by Patrick Harper and Mark Simpson to give the Steelers a two goal advantage with only 10 minutes remaining. However, two goals in the final stages for the Storm brought the game back level and sent the contest to overtime where Nevalainen accepted a drop pass from Scott Allen and wristed his effort top shelf over Weninger’s shoulder to move the Steelers to 87 points from their 57 games played.
Game Overview
A busy night for both netminders facing 96 shots between them with the Steelers edging the count with 50 of them in their own column. 9 of those shots producing goals between the sides as the game required three on three overtime to decide the winner.
The Steelers coming from behind on two separate occasions as the Storm took the lead through Matt Murphy (3.57) on an early powerplay before Patrick Watling (12.05) drew the game level after finishing a perfect feed from Mitchell Balmas at the back door, lifting over Storm netminder, Weninger.
The Storm then taking the lead once again early in the second period through Johnny Corneil (24.50) before the Steelers started to tilt the ice in their favour from the halfway mark as Patrick Harper (30.48) picked up a powerplay goal of his own via a deflection from a Storm player in the blue paint as the Steelers went ahead shortly afterwards as Mark Simpson (33.17) fired low through traffic as Allen and Whistle took away the eyes of the Storm netminder.
The Steelers pressure then paying dividends again at (39.40) when Patrick Watling picked up his second goal of the night on the powerplay. Another back post effort from Watling, this time accepting a pass from Josh Nicholls on the other side of the zone.
Despite being unable to capitalise on a five on three powerplay at the start of the third period, the Steelers looked set to take the two points in regulation before the Storm put their foot on the gas and drew the game level through Callum Fryer (50.31) finishing a rebound after a set of some excellent saved from Tony Morrone and Joe Morrow (57.02) from a blue line effort on the powerplay.
As the buzzer sounded and both teams guaranteeing a point, the game headed to overtime as both netminders came up big again at either end. The game being finished by Niklas Nevalainen (63.04), picking up his first goal of the season with a wonderful finish over the shoulder of Weninger, taking the puck from Scott Allen who carried the puck down the ice and laid if off to the Finnish defencemen as he fired his team to a four point weekend.
