Elite League play-offs: Sheffield Steelers beat Nottingham Panthers to reach final

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Jonathan PhillipsImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Jonathan Phillips will captain Sheffield Steelers in Sunday's Grand Final

Sheffield Steelers beat fierce rivals Nottingham Panthers in overtime to secure a place in Sunday's Elite League Grand Final against Cardiff Devils.

Panthers were 4-2 up in the third period, but goals from Ben O Connor and Levi Nelson levelled the scores.

John Armstrong completed a dramatic turnaround for Steelers in overtime with a sudden death goal at Nottingham's Motorpoint Arena.

The Grand Final (16:00 BST) will be shown live on the BBC Sport website.

Steelers twice came from two-goals down in normal time to force the 10-minute extra period before Canadian centre Armstrong scored the decisive goal almost four minutes into it.

Earlier Panthers went 2-0 ahead thanks to goals from Alex Mokshantsev, after just 47 seconds, and Luke Pither's cool one-on-one finish, but Mathieu Roy and Jonathan Phillips brought the Steelers level.

Pither's second and Jeff Brown's finish made it 4-2 before Sheffield's superb comeback set up a final against Devils, who beat Fife in the other semi-final.

Defeat for the Panthers meant there would be no fairytale ending for head coach Corey Neilson, who is departing after 12 years at the club.

Neilson joined Nottingham as a player in 2006 and has been player-coach, assistant head and head coach.

Coverage of the Grand Final starts at 15:40 on the BBC Sport website and app.

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