How Sheffield Steelers showed grit and class to twice come from behind in winning weekend

Guildford looked like they'd continue their recent winning streak until two minutes before the second interval when Aaron Fox's men triggered a sensational scoring blitz.

Steelers left the best to the last with a 3-0 period rout.

Before the EIHL game, Sheffield coach Aaron Fox had said there were not many teams that could match them when they turn on the pace and power.

"There isn't a match-up out there that we are looking to stay away from," he said. "We are very comfortable with the group we have."

But the start of the game in Surrey was anything but comfortable.

Guildford, the division's top-scoring club, took the lead at 6:50.

They had seen plenty of the puck and made it count when Swedish forward Sam Marklund struck past Matt Greenfield.

Steelers, who had Scott Allen back but left out Mason Mitchell, conceded another - and from a familiar face.

Defenceman Ben O'Connor, who served Steelers for 380 games, despatched a cracking shot at 13:27.

For the second time in two nights, Sheffield were behind 0-2.

They were struggling to deliver quality shots against Eamon McAdam.

When Danny Kristo and Matt Petgrave got into a shooting position, McAdam was ready. Kevin Schulze couldn't complete either. It seemed costly: Guildford going 3-0 up at 33:43 through Daniel Tedesco.

Two power plays didn't see Sheffield back in it - but then on a short-handed play, Daniel Ciampini notched, unassisted.

It was the turning point.

Two goals in a minute at the start of the third period forced Sheffield level, first from Adam Raška the second, Sebastien Piche's full-blooded drive.

The Brendon Connolly picked a fine time to score his first of the season, to put Sheffield 4-3 ahead from the hashmarks and ensure their sixth away win on the bounce.

*Steelers ran riot, at home, in the Challenge Cup on Saturday.

Archie Hazeldine gave Nottingham Panthers the lead before Matt Myers kept his head with an awkward puck on the blue line and earned his second assist at 13:44, David Levin beating Greenfield.

Things were getting ugly, especially when Connolly accidentally collided with Mitchell.

Hard work and ingenuity were needed and Ciampini illustrated that when he first backhanded a chance wide and then, on the same shift, drifted in from the right wing and powered past Alex Dubeau.

After that it was old-school hockey, a game packed with incidents.

Sheffield struck three consecutive times; Tomas Pitule being put through by Matt Petgrave, Piche's slapshot tipped in by Raska, before one of the goals of the season. Pitule's gorgeous pass from behind the net found Niklas Nevalainen who unselfishly fed Petgrave.

At 4-2, the action was only just starting. Tanner Sorenson scored off Greenfield's shoulder, but Steelers went two goals up again when Brett Neumann's enterprise earned a goal for Brandon Whistle.

A huge Piche hit on Levin was penalised for kneeing, enraging the coach and most of the 6,839 fans.

Not content to play out the game, Sheffield added two more from Martin Latal and Robert Dowd for a 7-3 win.