Sheffield Steelers must re-discover their goal touch against Dundee Stars

It's not much use dominating matches if you don't score.
Jace Coyle - Sheffield SteelersJace Coyle - Sheffield Steelers
Jace Coyle - Sheffield Steelers

But that was the experience Sheffield Steelers suddenly found themselves in last weekend. Now they need to rectify that situation in time for Wednesday night’s visit of Dundee Stars.

Steelers scored once at Belfast Giants on Saturday and twice at Cardiff Devils, falling short 1-2 and 2-3 despite having the lion’s share of the puck.

It was an unforseen shortcoming - they had scored 11 goals in their previous tw outings.

Against Dundee, we may be seeing the attacking lines bolstered by offensive defenceman Mike Ratchuk.

Jace Coyle is expected to make his first appearance of the season after flying in after a 14-game spell at Quad City Mallards in the ECHL.

The 26-year-old Canadian will go straight on to the team’s blueline, allowing coach Paul Thompson to allow the smooth-skating Ratchuk on to the wing.

Centreman Andreas Valdix remains out of the picture for the next month but the arrival of Coyle will mean that Sheffield will be at full strength and able to rotate four full lines of 12 forwards and six defencemen.

Cardiff lead second-placed Belfast by 10 points, with Sheffield two points further adrift.

The Dundee game is one of five games in hand that Steelers will need to win to catch the Welsh.

If Steelers get two points at iceSheffield against the next-to-bottom Scots and then win in Cardiff on Saturday, that is going to make a dent in Devils’ advantage.

To do that, they are going to have to re-discover their scoring touch which deserted them last weekend.

Jesse Schultz would benefit from a strike or two, he hasn’t found the net in his last seven games.

It is not as though the side did not create opportunities in their last two games, they just did not execute as efficiently as the opposition.

Dundee lost both their games last weekend and were without three imports.