Explosive First Period Powers Steelheads Past Condors 5-2

Taggart Desmet and John Lammers each scored twice as the Steelheads used a three-goal, first period to help secure a 5-2 win over the Condors in front of a sold out crowd of 5,223 fans at Qwest Arena on Friday night.The Steelheads (32-17-9) are now 8-2-2 in their last 12 home games and 4-0-1 against the Condors (17-29-9) this season. The Steelheads? win temporarily moved them into a tie for first place in the West Division, pending the results of the Salmon Kings game versus the Wranglers.Desmet earned his first of two, first period tallies just 1:51 into the period to put the Steelheads up 1-0. Defenseman Jeremy Scherlinck fired a shot from the left point that Desmet tipped past Yutaka Fukufuji (19 saves). Blake Forsyth got the second helper.It became 2-0 less than five minutes into the contest when Lammers buried his first of the night, when he grabbed a loose puck at the crease and slipped it past Fukufuji. Greg Rallo and Darrell Hay picked up the assists. The Steelheads made it 3-0 before intermission on Desmet?s team-leading 23rd as he took a gifted feed by Matt Craig and slammed home the goalmouth opportunity for a power play marker. Andrew Martin registered the other assist.Just over seven minutes into the second period Chris DiUbaldo rocketed a wrist shot over the head of Steelheads? goaltender Matt Zaba (27 saves) and just underneath the cross bar to put the Condors on the board. Tim Konsorada got the only assist.Forty-five seconds later the Steelheads answered, getting a power play goal by Lammers, his second of the night. His 18th of the season gave him 14 goals in 14 February tilts, with Marty Flichel picking up the assist.Again the Condors would attempt a rally, as Brett Lutes squeaked a shot through the legs of Zaba from the bottom of the left circle to make it 4-2.Mike Sullivan countered for the Steelheads at 17:24, taking a redirected point shot and stuffing into a partially open net for his 12th of the year and a 5-2 advantage. On the play, J.S. Adam fired a shot from the blue line that Colin Sinclair batted down with the bouncing puck coming free to Sullivan for a tap-in. There was no scoring in the third period and the final shots favored the Condors 29-24. The Steelheads went three-for-seven on the power play, while the Condors failed to score in their three chances. Zaba?s win is his 11th of the year and his eighth with the Steelheads. Fukufuji, who picked up the shootout victory in the series opener, fell to 10-12-1 on the season. The Steelheads conclude their series with the Condors on Saturday, March 1. The puck drops at 7:10 p.m. MST. All the action can be heard live on 1350 AM, KTIK ?The Ticket? or via the B2 Networks. Don?t forget, Steelheads? single-game tickets can be purchased via www.idahosteelheads.com (using the print-at-home feature), by calling 331-TIXS or from the Qwest Arena box office.