The county men were on course to collect a draw at Ice Sheffield on Saturday evening, with the scores tied at 1-1 midway through the final period.
But a bad-tempered encounter swung away from Telford in the closing stages, as the hosts struck twice in six minutes through coach Andre Payette.
Tigers chief Tom Watkins believes basic errors cost his side dearly.
He said: “It will always be a tough game against Sheffield, as they have a lot of physical presence and work hard.
“But I do think we made mistakes that gifted away the game late on. It was a 1-1 hockey game and both teams were in it.
“We were working hard, but there were some mistakes that I wasn’t really expecting and I am pretty disappointed.”
Jaroslav Cesky was the only scorer for Telford, as the summer signing collected his fifth goal of the season on 19 minutes.
A bruising second period saw Tigers defencemen Marcus Maynard and Daniel Croft become involved in fights with Sheffield skipper Greg Wood and Payette respectively.
But Telford’s frailties were exposed late on as the Steeldogs sealed victory.
Watkins added: “There are plenty of positives to take from the game and we created a lot of chances.
“But the flip side of that is we weren’t scoring from them. There are only so many games you can play before that becomes a problem.”
A continued absence of home ice is, inevitably, taking its toll on Telford’s chances to train together.
But the Tigers are developing a hard core of travelling fans – and Sheffield player-coach Andre Payette was full of praise for their efforts.
He said: “Telford are much improved from last season and their fans get right behind them. It was great to see a bunch them here tonight. They are always loud and give me a bit of stick, which I like.
“They made a lot of noise and the team were right in it until the end. They battled really hard”.
TRS Telford Tigers face a tough challenge next weekend when they make the trip to early-season pacesetters Basingstoke Bison.