By Stuart Hughes BBC Sport Online

Belfast Giants missed two chances to close the gap at the top of the Ice Hockey Superleague over the weekend.

Instead, the Northern Ireland franchise 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.

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. Twenty-four hours earlier a late strike from Rick Brebant gave Sheffield Steelers a 1-0 victory over Giants.

Belfast Giants coach Dave Whistle looks on

Brebant broke the deadlock by beating Mark Cavallin with just over two 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.

Meanwhile, Bracknell Bees are planning to leave the Superleague and join the Findus British National League next season.

Under the current league set-up, the move would leave the ISL with just four operating teams.

Bees owner John Nike is to give more details of his plans in the next few days.

ICE HOCKEY SUPERLEAGUE
Team	P	W	D	OTL	L	For	Ag	Pts
Sheffield Steelers	16	10	3	0	3	40	23	23
Nottingham Panthers	15	7	2	0	6	45	42	16
Belfast Giants	14	6	2	1	5	45	35	15
London Knights	15	5	4	0	6	34	36	14
Bracknell Bees	16	3	3	1	9	41	69	10