Double over Fife Flyers caps weekend of celebrations for Sheffield Steelers

GOOD TIMES: Sheffield Steelers celebrate Levi Nelson's goal against Fife Flyers on Saturday night. Picture: Dean Woolley.

SHEFFIELD STEELERS ensured the celebratory mood which had greeted the weekend continued into the early hours of this morning's coach ride home from Scotland when they posted a maximum return in the Elite League.

Having started the weekend off by raising the banner for their 2015-16 Elite League title win and marking captain Jonathan Phillips’ rise to second in the list of all-time appearances, they enhanced the party mood with back-to-back wins over Fife Flyers.

Last night in Kirkcaldy saw John Armstrong provide the inspiration, scoring two first-period goals to establish the platform for a 4-2 win.

The game was put beyond the reach of hosts Fife after second-period strikes from Jesse Schultz and defenceman David Phillips, despite replies from Mathew Sisca and David Turon.

Just under 24 hours earlier, after around 6,000 fans cheered for the banner-raising, the Flyers looked in the mood to spoil the party atmosphere when they took a 1-0 lead after 15 minutes, much against the run of play.

Former Steelers’ defenceman Russ Moyer was partly responsible, breaking up a move by his former captain Phillips before firing a pinpoint pass to Brendan Brooks, who was all alone to fire past Ervins Mustukovs.

That was how it stayed until after the halfway mark when Levi Nelson - returning from an injury lay-off - finished off a one-two with Mike Ratchuk at 33.24.

The go-ahead goal came less than two minutes into the third, Nelson feeding Dowd from the left for the GB international to fire through Shane Owen’s legs at 41.23.

BANNER-RAISING: Sheffield Steelers' players prepare for Saturday night's match against Fife with the freshly-hung Elite League champions banner for 2015-16 hanging behind them. Picture: Dean Woolley.

Just over four minutes later, the hosts doubled their advantage when Tyler Mosienko stabbed the puck home after a goalmouth scramble that left Flyers goaltender Owen furious after he felt he was impeded.

As the Flyers - outshot 49-29 on the night - battled for a way back, Guillaume Desbiens collected a pass out from the Steelers zone from Mosienko on the halfway line before skating clear to fire past Owen with just 33 seconds remaining.