Sheffield Steelers maintain hold over Nottingham Panthers to chip away at leaders Cardiff

Robert Dowd fires in a shot on Nottingham netminder Jindrich Pacl during Sunday night's 6-1 mtriumph. Picture: Dean Woolley.

IT may not have matched the previous tally when Nottingham Panthers visited South Yorkshire, but that did not make Sunday night's triumph over their arch-rivals any less satisfying for Sheffield Steelers.

A 6-1 scoreline in no way flattered the Steelers and completed a near-perfect weekend for the defending Elite League champions coming as it did on the back of a 5-4 victory at the National Ice Centre the previous evening.

And how Paul Thompson’s players must be looking forward to Boxing Day – the next time that Nottingham set foot inside Sheffield Arena.

So far on three visits to South Yorkshire, Corey Neilson’s team have come off second-best each time – conceding an alarming, for them, 21 goals in the process.

Sheffield Steelers' players celebrate Mike Ratchuk's first goal of the night. Picture: Dean Woolley.

Looking at the bigger picture, however, last night’s victory more importantly saw the Steelers chip away oh-so slightly at the sizeable lead enjoyed by top-of-the-table Cardiff Devils, who wake up this morning still 11 points clear of their nearest rivals.

There are two more meetings to take place between the top pair ahead of the Christmas period – both in South Wales – the first of which comes next Sunday.

It also remains to be seen how much advantage the Steelers make of the five games they have in hand over the Devils, who they have pipped to the title on the final weekend of the season for the last two years.