ON a weekend which brought plenty of positives, Sheffield Steelers’ head coach Aaron Fox Fox said he was delighted to see winger Martin Latal get his just rewards with a three-goal haul.

The 34-year-old Czech-born forward also bagged an assist on a weekend which saw the Steelers remain in an increasingly tight four-way Elite League regular season title race with a welcome four-point haul through wins over Nottingham Panthers and Coventry Blaze.

Latal’s efforts took his points tally for the season to 47 from 48 games, 22 of them being goals, leaving him as the team’s third-highest overall points-scorer, behind forward Daniel Ciampini (54) and defenceman Matt Petgrave (49).

But prior to the weekend, it had been a lean time for Latal in terms of points production with three assists in nine games, not that head coach Fox had any concerns over the 2005 fifth round NHL Draft pick.

“Sometimes you need a couple guys to step up at key moments and Lats (Latal) had three on the weekend which was great to see,” said Fox, as the majority of his team take a step back from competitive action due to the forthcoming international break.

“But he’s been buzzing for a while now and just hasn’t been rewarded with finding the back of the net – but I’ve loved his game down the stretch here, he’s been all in from that side of things.”

The weekend saw Fox put Latal on a line with Marc-Olivier Vallerand and Brendan Connolly, one he feels has plenty of legs going forward, the latter pair having proved so effective together during the 2019-20 Challenge Cup-winning campaign.

Fox believes Vallerand’s return at the end of January, following a stint with Slovenia’s HK Olimpija Ljubljana, gives him welcome depth in the forward department.

DOUBLE DELIGHT: Martin Latal (centre), pictured with Marc-Olivier Vallerand (right), scored twice for Sheffield Steelers in their 4-1 win over Coventry Blaze on Sunday. Picture courtesy of Dean Woolley/Steelers Media/EIHL

“It was good to see Conns (Connolly) and Vally (Vallerand) back together and playing well,” added Fox. “We figured that would be a good duo to start with and then use Lats’ speed – so there’s two guys there that can absolutely burn with Conns.

“Vally’s a marquee player – I’ve said many times I felt like he was the best forward in this league for the last two years that he was here.

"He’s got top-end speed and plays a very reliable two-way game, too.

“So we have a couple of lines you consider first lines in this league and then we have a third line with Dowdy (Robert Dowd) and Danny Kristo on it, two elite players with Mac (Brandon McNally), who had a big goal against Coventry with that group.

LINE UP: Brendan Connolly worked well with Sheffield Steelers' line-mates Marc-Olivier Vallerand and Martin Latal Picture courtesy of Dean Woolley/Steelers Media/EIHL

“So it adds depth to our line-up and takes a little bit of the burden off one guy each night when you feel like you have three lines that can all produce.”

The Steelers, who booked their place in the post-season play-offs at the weekend, sit third in the standings, two points adrift of leaders Guildford Flames and having played a game more.

They are next in action on Wednesday, February 18 when they take on Fife Flyers in the second leg of their Challenge Cup semi-final, Fox’s team trailing 3-2 from the first leg in Kirkcaldy.

Sheffield Steelers head coach Aaron Fox on why Martin Latal's last two Elite League displays were so pleasing