Missed chances haunt Sheffield Steelers and frustrate Aaron Fox

"We are going to have to burn a stick at centre ice next weekend," offered the Great Britain winger, his answer to a goal drought that led to a 3-2 loss in Sunday's Challenge Cup group game.

Fans will understand his personal frustration as well as the team one.

The fan favourite has not collected a goal or an assist in the first six games of the season in Cup and league.

That will change soon - he is a class player.

The collective offensive output is a thing of mystery, however.

Steelers scored 19 goals in a four-game sequence, suggesting they have the tools to do the job.

But towards the end of the pre-season fixtures and in the opening league game against Cardiff Devils, goals were pretty thin on the ground.

On Sunday, Coach Aaron Fox - for the second time in recent weeks - admitted his team had been outworked.

He specifically applied that criticism to the first period, saying Panthers had "owned us" at that stage.

Sheffield then had a more progressive 40 minutes - they just weren't clinical enough in the offensive zone.

"We just didn't take our chances when we had them," he lamented, probably with a mental image of opportunities that came and went for Brandon McNally, Adam Raska and Brett Neuman (two) among others.

"I liked our push-back in the second and third," he said but stressed: "We missed an empty net, two on '0,' two on one, there are probably six or seven there which I could list.

"We just didn't find a way to finish off. It was just one of those nights when we didn't do enough.

"We didn't find the back of the net and they did, it was just one of those games."

The stats certainly bear that view out.

Sheffield had 70 shots, more than in any previous game so far, 40 of them on goal, with an efficiency rate of five percent, half that of Panthers.

Nottingham coach Gary Graham said his players made sacrifices to bring the result home and get the club out of a form slump

He praised ex-Steeler Matt Myers for a sliding save of a puck on its way into an empty net.

Steelers will be hoping the arrival next month of Mason Mitchell will be a factor in finding more goals.

Mitchell, injured in pre-season back in north America, will have speed "which will cause problems at our level...he has a really good touch around the net" says Fox.

"His pace down the wing really fits the type of style we play and think he will be a guy that creates space for his line mates."