Steelheads complete third period comeback and take another win in Utah

Regulation time had not decided the previous three Steelheads-Grizzlies meetings entering tonight. After this evening?s action, make it the last four. Tonight, the Steelheads (23-14-3) completed a third period comeback with a game-tying goal from Kris Sparre with just over 12 seconds left on the power play with the goalie pulled, and eventually earned a 7-6 shootout victory on the road against their geographical rival, the Utah Grizzlies (15-14-10). Like last night?s game, one team shot out to a 2-0 lead in the first period; but unlike last night, Kevin Colley?s Utah team had the early lead in this evening?s contest. Ryan Kinasewich scored at 3:10 of the first with the assist going to Rob Hennigar. Just over four minutes later, James Brannigan scored on Idaho?s Matt Climie from a very sharp angle to give Utah a 2-0 lead; Tyler Wooddisse and Mike Walsh had assists on Hennigar?s goal. Another similarity to last night: Tyler Shelast scored the first goal of the game for the Steelheads because of some hard work in front of the Utah net; Mark Bomersback and Marty Flichel added the assists at 15:04. Just over two minutes later, Brent Shepheard scored his second in as many nights- his sixth of the season- to tie the game at 2-2. Matt McKnight and Adam Welch had the assists. Early in the second period, Matt Climie left the game with cramps, and was relieved by Rejean Beauchemin. Climie played 24:55, and stopped 10 of 12 Utah shots. Bryan McGregor put the Steelheads ahead 3-2 at 5:52 of the second period on the power play with his 14th of the year; Kris Sparre and Matt Stephenson picked up the assists. Ryan Kinasewich tied the game at 3-3 for Utah less than 30 seconds after McGregor?s goal. Mike Walsh scored at 15:52 of the second period to give Utah a 4-3 lead heading into the third period; a lead they would hold for most of the third period, but not enough of it. In the first 7:34 of the third period, Utah extended their lead to 6-3. However, the comeback began when Kory Scoran took a pass in the high-slot from Bryan McGregor, and wasting no time on the release, Scoran fired the puck by Mike Mole for his third of the season. Sparre also assisted on the goal. About 90 seconds later, Kris Sparre scored his first of the game on a shifty move that beat Mole; Flichel and Stephenson assisted on the goal. With just over 12 seconds to go and the goalie pulled, Sparre wrested a loose puck by Mole for a game-tying power play goal to send the game to overtime; however, the overtime period did not do the trick. In the shootout, Ben Nelson, McGregor, and Sparre converted to secure the win for the Steelheads. Rejean Beauchemin earned the win in 39:30 of action, stopping 18 of 22 Utah shots. His record improves to 9-6-2 on the season. Mike Mole stopped 30 of 36 Steelheads shots, as his record fell to 11-14-10 with the loss. The shootout loss was Mole?s fifth such loss on the year. The Steelheads are now 4-1 in shootouts this season. The Steelheads are back in action tomorrow against Utah to complete this weekend series. The puck drops at 5:05 PM.