Cardiff Devils are one win from being crowned Elite League champions.

Bitter rivals Sheffield Steelers won 5-2 against Belfast Giants away on Friday evening and that was a massive boost for Devils.

They now need to beat Steelers away on Saturday or Fife Flyers at home the following evening to win the title.

It’s 20 years since Devils were last ice hockey champions of Britain, but they are close to a major triumph.

Belfast were the biggest threat to Cardiff’s title charge, but their defeat against Steelers was a massive blow.

Sheffield’s Mathieu Roy opened the scoring for the visitors five minutes in to the game with Markus Nilsson doubling the Steelers advantage midway through the first 20 minutes as the Giants struggled to find a way past Steelers goaltender Ervins Mustukovs.

After a goalless second period, the home side finally struck back through defenceman Jerome Leduc 62 seconds in to the final frame.

Sheffield’s two-goal cushion was soon restored, however, with Geoff Walker finding the back of the net before Roy grabbed his second of the night 33 seconds later to put Sheffield 4-1 up.

James Desmarais capped off a wild run of play by grabbing an almost instant reply for Belfast, but the home side continued to struggle to find a way past Mustukovs and when Guillaume Desbiens fired the puck in to an empty net it was game over.

Steelers win opens the way for Devils to win the championship in Sheffield on Saturday and there are certain to be more than 300 Welsh ice hockey fans at the arena.

Elite League – top four

All teams play 52 fixtures

Pl Pts

1 Cardiff Devils 48 75

2 Belfast Giants 49 70

3 Sheffield Steelers 49 69

4 Nottingham Panthers 47 52