Elite League: Belfast Giants 3-1 Sheffield Steelers

Belfast Giants clinched a 3-1 victory over Sheffield Steelers in Saturday's Elite League contest at the SSE Arena.

The goals all came in the first period with Dustin Johner's opener followed by further Giants strikes from Cole Jarrett and Sebastien Sylvestre.

Levi Nelson replied for Sheffield before the end of the first period but it proved the last goal of the contest.

The Steelers' Andreas Valdix received a misconduct penalty in the final period after a clash with Giants' Kevin Raine.

Raine squared up to Valdix after the Sheffield player had delivered a late hit on Jim Vandermeer

Belfast were unable to exploit the subsequent power play but it was a satisfactory evening for the Giants ahead of Sunday's away game against the same opposition as all the home team's goals came from summer signings.

The Giants took control of the match by moving 3-0 up in the first period

The Steelers began the contest as the Elite League leaders but the Giants were quickly out of the blocks as Brendan Connolly set up Johner to score from close range.

Jarrett doubled Belfast's advantage in the ninth minute as he scored from distance after the Steelers looked to have weathered a power play.

Within a minute, the Giants extended their lead as Sylvestre, whose early-season form and goal-scoring have already made him a very popular addition to the Giants' roster, coolly slotted home.

Nelson pulled one back for the Steelers but the home side regrouped to boss the remainder of an opening period in which they outshot the opposition by 20 to 11.

The second period failed to produce any further goals and the most noteworthy incident of the closing 20 minutes was the dust up between Valdix and Raine.