Ice hockey: Sheffield Steelers fight the Devils for play off spot after Giants dance jig on title hopes

But six defeats in 11 games – and a Friday night hiding at Belfast Giants – will do that to you.

Sunday’s encounter with a Cardiff Devils’ side locked on the same points as them at least gave them the chance to regain some pride and show they have an appetite for the post-season tournament.

This they achieved, as well as two points which put them ahead of the Welsh, in undisputed third place.

Sunday’s first period had been the Robert Dowd show, it was akin to watching his testimonial game, only two days early.

The GB forward was everywhere, chasing, harrying, passing and hitting.

Unfortunately, it was his intercepted pass that led to the opening goal, Cardiff’s Brodie Reid striking a rebound past Matt Greenfield and in off Calle Ackered on the line.

But Dowd isn’t one to give up.

He popped up centring a line with Alex Graham and Jonathan Phillips, weaving across from the right flank to prod the puck home off Ben Bowns’ pads.

Steelers, without Sam Jones and Brandon McNally – suspended in the embarrassing 2-8 defeat at Belfast Giants on Friday, matched Cardiff’s work ethic as the momentum swapped from side to side.

Sheffield’s Matt Petgrave was trying to influence events all over the pad, powering a shot on Bowns’ blocker at one point, and Martin Latal’s pace threatened to unlock Devils’ defence.

But it was Dowd’s connection with linemates Marco Vallerand and Brendan Connolly that oozed aggression and menace while Greenfield dealt well with four efforts on his goal before the first break.

It was a Steeler young gun who found the net though.

Twenty-year-old Graham, wearing the orange shirt for the 17th time this season, wrist shot a puck directed by Brett Neumann to put Sheffield ahead at 32:45.

Dowd continued to feature prominently, although sometimes not to the officials’ liking.

He took two penalties in the middle session, and Cardiff profited from the second one, Cole Sanford equalising on the power play.

With former fan-heroes Colton Fretter and Levi Nelson watching on in the stands, could Steelers turn it on in the last period?

Brendon Connolly, arguably the most consistent forward in the last 10 games, answered the bell by controlling a rebound and burying it at 45:26, on a power play.

It was tight, but enough to bring home both points.

*On Friday, Belfast didn’t just step over the corpse of Steelers’ league title ambitions, they stood on it, did an Irish jig, and then wiped their feet on it on the way out.

Any pretence that Sheffield could eke out a miracle in the run-in was torn to shreds at the SSE Arena.

The only thing more ruthless than Giants’ deadly offensive play was Steelers’ coach Aaron Fox’s post-match analysis.

The boss admitted that one team had wanted to fight, the other to lie down.

For the first time since arriving in South Yorkshire in 2019, he questioned the character of some of the team and admitted players had not matched the physicality and mentality of their opponents.

Brett Neumann and Connolly scored on Friday, Steven Owre, Mark Cooper and Sean Norris got a brace each for Giants and there were others from Scott Conway and Matt Foley.

It was Steelers’ fifth defeat out of six games to Belfast and one that will leave a stain on the campaign as a whole.