Leeds Knights continue derby dominance to get on equal terms with leaders Milton Keynes Lightning

The victory - their 14th straight success over their Yorkshire rivals - was secured largely thanks to a sumptuous hat-trick from captain Kieran Brown, the Steeldogs proving a far tougher proposition than on Tuesday night when they were beaten 6-0 by a rampant Knights.

Afterwards, head coach Ryan Aldridge admitted his team had not been at its best, but was pleased to have got the job done.

“A result is a result, we got the points,” said Aldridge. “I didn’t think we were great, we seemed to be flat all night. I thought we were better the other night in their building.

“For the boys, that was their third game in four nights, after winning a cup, having a couple of beers - so for them to play the way they did, I thought they were phenomenal in Sheffield, from start to finish.

“Here, we got two points, Kieran was obviously outstanding, I think Biz was unbelievable again - that line works hard for each other and get rewarded.

“And I thought the fourth line, the young boys, were excellent - so there were lots of positives but it was just a bit of a flat game.”

It looked like the Knights might extend their dominance from Tuesday night when Brown put them ahead with only 97 seconds gone.

Picking up a loose puck in his own zone, Brown drove down centre ice and backhanded over Ben Norton’s left shoulder from the bottom of the right circle.

But the response that never came at Ice Sheffield wasn’t long arriving from the Steeldogs this time around, a sweeping move started by Elmeri Hällfors found Finlay Ulrick, whose skilful reverse lay-off just inside the Knights’ zone fed Ivan Björkly-Nordström, who was able to go five-hole on Sam Gospel from the left circle at 4.08.

The Knights - who gave a home debut to 16-year-old Bradford Bulldogs forward Danny Harrison - were able to take a lead into the first break, though, Matt Barron finding Brown from the right-circle, enabling the captain to execute an audacious close-range finish through his legs at 18.38.

The second period was short on Grade-A chances at both ends as both sides struggled to find any kind of fluidity.

The one goal that came went the way of the hosts when the Steeldogs were on the power play.

As the puck was cleared from the zone, Brown got to it first just ahead of Steeldogs’ captain Jonathan Kirk before breaking clear to lift the puck over the right shoulder of Norton and into the roof of the net at 34.05.

But the Steeldogs ensured this last derby encounter of the regular season would go down to the wire when they hit back early in the third.

The impressive Björkly-Nordström broke out the Steeldogs’ zone on the right and circled before finding the advancing Kirk who had time and space to fire through traffic and past Gospel at 42.06.

Gospel was called on to make a couple of key saves as the Steeldogs pressed hard for an equaliser, but it was the Knights who struck next to secure the bigger cushion they craved - although they needed a spot of luck to achieve that.

Jordan Buesa’s attempted pass from the right circle to Mac Howlett at the far post never reached its intended target as it ricocheted in off the right skate of Steeldogs’ captain Jonathan Kirk to make it 4-2.

The Steeldogs continued to press but could not find a way through again, the Knights registering their 33rd victory of the regular season to draw level on points with leaders Milton Keynes Lightning.

The Knights close out their weekend with a visit to Peterborough on Saturday night, while the Steeldogs take a day off before hosting play-off chasing Solway Sharks at Ice Sheffield on Sunday (4pm)>

To get tickets or to buy the live stream for the Steeldogs v Solway go HERE