The Sheffield Steeldogs produced a dominant all-round performance to secure a convincing 7-3 victory over Milton Keynes Lightning, with Kyle Watson leading the way with a hat-trick.
Sheffield set the tone early, opening the scoring at 8:04 of the first period before doubling their advantage at 12:23 through Watson, who finished a well-worked move assisted by Nathan Ripley and Ivan Björkly-Nordström. Milton Keynes responded positively and pulled one back at 13:57, Patrik Forsberg finding the net with help from Dominik Gabaj to make it 2-1 at the first intermission.
The Steeldogs took control of the game in the second period. Watson struck again just under two minutes in, assisted by Björkly-Nordström, before Brady Doxey added a fourth at 22:27. Bair Gendunov extended the lead to 5-1 at 28:06, converting a chance set up by Walker Sommer and CJ Garcia. The Lightning showed resilience late in the period, with goals from Jarvis Hunt (34:52) and Harry Gulliver (36:46) reducing the deficit to 5-3 heading into the third.
Any hopes of a comeback were quickly extinguished in the final period. Watson completed his hat-trick at 48:37, finishing a play created by Ivan Björkly-Nordström and Jonathan Kirk. Milton Keynes later opted to pull their goalie in search of offense, but Sheffield capitalised, with Walker Sommer sealing the result at 56:41, assisted by Jonathan Philips and Gendunov.
The win capped a strong offensive showing from the Steeldogs, highlighted by Watson’s three-goal performance, as Sheffield skated away with a deserved 7-3 victory.
Man of the match deservedly went to our #37 Kyle Watson!
Watch the Steeldogs next FRIDAY as they take on the Telford Tigers in our Christmas special game! This will be your chance to see our ELF themed Christmas jerseys take to the ice! Get your tickets HERE.
