By Stuart Hughes BBC Sport Online

Sheffield Steelers let slip a three-goal lead at home against fierce rivals Nottingham Panthers, who fought back for a 3-3 draw.

After a 15-minute delay to the face-off, Sheffield powered into a commanding first-period lead in front of a sell-out crowd.

Rhett Gordon opened the scoring for the home side with a short-handed goal after six minutes.

In the 16th minute Mark Dutiaume buried a rebound at Nottingham goalie Mike Pietila's back post.

After Nottingham's Marc Hussey was sent to the penalty box for high-sticks, Rick Brebant picked up a Rhett Gordon pass to score with just three seconds left in the opening session.

London edge Bracknell

Panthers switched goalies for the second period, replacing Pietila with Petter Sandstrom between the pipes.

Mark Cadotte (powerplay) began Nottingham's fight back with a goal from the right wing at 23:09.

Jason Clarke rattled the puck past Joel Laing at 28:13 to cut the deficit to a single goal.

Less than 14 minutes before the final buzzer Cadotte put away his second to secure a point for the in-form Panthers.

In Thursday's other Superleague tie London Knights beat southern rivals Bracknell Bees 5-4.

London's Rich Bronilla and Mark Kolesar recorded a pair of goals each.