By Stuart Hughes BBC Sport Online

Nottingham Panthers beat reigning Superleague champions Belfast Giants 3-2 on Sunday evening to narrow the gap at the top of the table to just two points.

Kevin Riehl gave the Giants the lead on five minutes. He fired home after a great pass from Rob Stewart.

Lee Jinman scored the Panthers' second

Nottingham's equaliser came four minutes later from Greg Hadden.

In the 14th minute Panther Lee Jinman won the puck at the blue line and skated in to beat Belfast goalie Ryan Bach.

Shortly afterwards Paxton Schulte and Barry Nieckar earned themselves five minutes each in the penalty box for fighting.

Belfast's Rob Stewart (powerplay) traded second period goals with Greg Hadden of Nottingham but the in-form visitors held on during the final twenty minutes for the win

In Sunday's other League game league leaders Sheffield Steelers beat London Knights 5-2.

Sean Blanchard put London ahead after less than three minutes on the first powerplay of the evening.

Marc Laniel (powerplay) equalised early in the second period and Jeff Brown put Sheffield ahead at 26:08.

Rich Bronilla restored parity in the 32nd minute but then the game shifted firmly in Sheffield's favour.

Frayed tempers

Marc Laniel's second powerplay goal of the evening put Sheffield back in front and Rhett Gordon made it 4-2 at 35:19.

Sheffield's fifth goal came just under ten minutes before the final buzzer. Kent Simpson (short-handed) charged down a pass at his own end and broke away to score to the left of London goalie Dave Trofimenkoff.

London's defeat against Sheffield was their second of the weekend. On Saturday Nottingham Panthers beat the Docklands outfit 3-1.

London absorbed the pressure in the opening period but finally succumbed to a pair of goals from Lee Jinman in the second.

Rich Bronilla struck from the point to narrow the gap to a single goal before tempers frayed between Chris Slater and Dody Wood.

Greg Hadden secured the win for Nottingham with a strike through Dave Trofimenkoff's pads from close range at 49:12. Also on Saturday Belfast Giants, playing with a full bench for the first time in more than two months, comfortably overcame Bracknell Bees 5-2.

Bracknell goalie Joe Watkins stood firm until the 13th minute, when Kevin Riehl unleashed an unstoppable blast.

Five minutes later, Doug McDonald poked home a rebound in front of the net after Watkins had pulled off a fine save from a Paxton Schulte shot.

Belfast out-shot Bracknell 15-7 in the second period and hit the back of the net three times through Robby Sandrock and Dave Matsos (twice).

Bees switched netminders at the start of the third period and Joe Ciccarello helped restore some pride for the visitors with a pair of goals in the 46th and 49th minutes.