Many congratulations to both the team and the fans for what was a deserved victory after all the near misses with a short bench! I think everyone deerved a result like that!
Aubry was outstanding yet again, robbing the Steelers on more than one occassion. The whole team worked their socks off.
It was great to see the powerplay finallly come to the party with 2 from 4 and when we did set it up we actually looked threatening. You could say that last night's game ended up being decided by special teams - which is a battle we don't usually win.
How much better can our penalty kill get? 0 from 7 for the Steelers on the PP who have the league's best PP at home I believe. They also scored something like 5 from 7 against Nottingham on boxing day. For all the stick our PP gets, I suppose it's balanced out a little by the quality of our PK (which I believe is the league's best)
I'm a little humoured by the main topic of discussion on Steeltalk, which seems to focus on the behaviour of our fans, rather than the game. There were a few gestures from Devils fans which I do not condone. However, when a player is allowed to get away with doing it (as lehman did in our rink) then these gestures were somewhat innevitable. If the league is not going to discpline a player, what message does that send to the fans?
This crept through further last night, when after the game, Dagenias offered out a Devils fan during the presentations - suggesting he come down to the stage area! Real classy! I don't suspect this will be looked at by the league.
Finally, a big thankyou to the Panthers fans who came last night! Some of them were even starting the chants for us. I'm sure their attendance was more to do with their dislike for the Steelers, than their love for the Devils, but it was great to have them there!