Belfast Giants failed to close the gap at the top of the Ice Hockey Superleague on the weekend.

Instead, the Northern Ireland team slipped to third, losing back-to-back games against league leaders Sheffield Steelers and Nottingham Panthers.

A pair of goals in the second period lifted Panthers to a 2-0 victory over Belfast at the National Ice Centre on Sunday evening.

Jason Elders scored 1:25 into the middle session. John Purves turned in a rebound in front of the goalmouth on the powerplay at 30:38.

Nottingham goalie Mika Pietila turned aside 35 shots for the shutout.

It was Belfast's second shutout of the weekend. 24 hours earlier a late strike from Rick Brebant gave Sheffield Steelers a 1-0 victory over Giants.

Brebant broke the deadlock by beating Mark Cavallin with just over 2 minutes remaining.

Sheffield goalie Joel Laing recorded his second successive clean sheet, making 25 saves.

In Saturday's other Superleague game, London Knights fought back from 2-0 down to beat Bracknell Bees 4-3.

Dan Ceman and Joe Ciccarello (powerplay) put Bracknell in control in the first period.

Kim Ahlroos and Corey Spring traded goals early in the second period before Jeff Hoad cut the deficit to a single goal on the powerplay at 38:35.

London shone in the final session. Mark Kolesar's short-handed goal was followed by a game-winning strike from Steve Aronson - his first for the club - in the 52nd minute.