Elite League play-offs: Sheffield Steelers beat Nottingham Panthers to reach final
Last updated on .From the section Ice hockey
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.
