Telford Tigers knocked off top spot after defeat at Sheffield Steeldogs

Tigers started the game strongly and had plenty of possession in the Sheffield defensive zone in the first five minutes with Doug Clarkson and Scott McKenzie both going close.

But Sheffield took the lead in the 7th minute when a harmless shot that was sailing wide of the goal hit the skate of McKenzie and deflected into the path of Sheffield’s Ashley Calvert, who tapped the puck into the goal from close range.

The goal not only gave Sheffield the lead, but gave them some momentum and they went close shortly after when Milan Kolena’s shot hit Tigers netminder Tom Hovell on the shoulder and rolled behind him, narrowly wide of the goal.

The visitors were not at their fluid best and too many passes were not finding their mark, allowing Sheffield possession and chances.

As the period ended, Hovell was awarded a delay of game penalty for covering the puck illegally, with the penalty being served by Andy McKinney, meaning Tigers would start the second period on the penalty kill.

Tigers killed off the penalty and had a great chance to equalise when Clarkson and McKenzie had a two on one breakaway but McKenzie’s shot was saved by Dimitri Zimozdra.

Tigers would rue the missed chance as Sheffield broke up the other end and scored their second goal through James Spurr. Things got worse as Duncan Speirs added a third in the 32nd minute.

Hovell then pulled off a magnificent save to keep Tigers in the game, before a power play chance was wasted in the 33rd minute after Kolena had been called for high sticking.

Sheffield thought they had added a fourth goal when Calvert applied the finish to Tim Smith’s shot but the referee ruled the final shot had been hit with a high stick and disallowed the goal.

Tigers had two final chances in the last 20 seconds of the period but Ricky Plant and Jason Silverthorn could not force the puck home. Tigers did end up with a power play to start the third period when Speirs shot the puck directly out of play as the buzzer went, with Speirs handed a delay of game penalty.

Tigers could not make the extra man advantage pay, however. Four minutes into the third period Adrian Palak broke away and hammered a wrist shot past Hovell to make it 4-0.

Sheffield added a fifth goal in the 59th minute with Spurr scoring his second of the game to round off an evening for Tigers to forget.

Head coach Tom Watkins said: “It is tough to win when you play like that. Offensively and defensively we were horrible.

"We couldn’t buy a goal, didn't get pucks through on the goal very often enough. We did create chances but weren’t clinical. We took too long to get pucks off sticks and our power play was atrocious.

"We struggled to manage simple one on ones on the defensive side, got caught looking at pucks and guys stepped around us too easily. We also had bad body position, poor stick position and were on the wrong side of the puck too many times. It was a very disappointing performance."