The Nottingham Panthers took another step towards the Elite League title with a crucial victory over the Sheffield Steelers at the NIC. They claimed the two points thanks to a penalty shootout victory after a 3-3 tie and it means the Steelers haven't won a league game in Nottingham in two full seasons.

The Panthers were to the fore early on and went ahead within a couple of minutes, Marty Gascon left uncovered by the Steelers' defence to fire home from close range. There was plenty of edge to the game in the early stages and plenty of penalty minutes were dished out to both sides with 8 players, 4 from each side, taking coincidental roughing minors after one shoving match behind Andrew Verner's net. Mike Sgroi was aggrevated and seemed keen to fight anyone and everyone but no Panther wanted to slug it out with him. David Clarke and Kevin Bolibruck did drop the gloves but Clarke wrestled his man to the ground without a punch being thrown. The physical play and the threat of serious violence breaking out at any point wasn't affected by the Panthers' second goal. Jade Galbraith came out of the penalty box after serving one of the two penalties Dominic D'Amour had picked up after a battle with Matt Hubbauer and he skated in on Verner and beat him emphatically to double their lead.

Sheffield responded in the second period by outshooting the Panthers 15-7 and they got a goal from Joey Talbot to bring them within one. Nottingham were struggling to get anything going offensively and back to back minor penalties on the Steelers late in the period should've helped them re-establish their two goal cushion. As it was, they allowed a breakaway goal to Jeff Legue inside the final minute. Legue's finish was made more impressive as he was being hooked as he went through but the delayed penalty goal got Sheffield level and set up a terrific final period.

The break didn't slow Sheffield's momentum and they looked more likely to score the 5th goal of the night but it was Nottingham, thanks to a David Clarke deflection, that got it. Kevin St. Pierre made a series of great saves down the stretch to maintain the lead but he couldn't keep out Jason Hewitt's rising wrist shot over his blocker at the near post inside the last four minutes.

Sheffield held the upper hand in overtime and came closest to scoring but found St. Pierre in their way time after time. It seemed as though Nottingham were happy to take their chances in the shootout as they offered very little as an attacking force towards the end of the game. This proved to be a sound tactic as Legue saw his penalty shot saved before Galbraith pulled the same deke on Verner that worked in the first period to give the Panthers the shootout lead. Hubbauer and Jay Henderson both saw their shots saved and so Sheffield's last chance fell to Talbot but he shot wide and Nottingham took the two crucial points and keep their title hopes very much alive.