Balanced Steelheads blank Bulls, 5-0

San Francisco, CA (3/29/13) - Adrian Foster scored twice in his return to the lineup and Chris Rawlings stopped all 23 shots he saw in his professional debut Friday night as the Idaho Steelheads blanked the San Francisco Bulls, 5-0. Rawlings is the third different Idaho goaltender to author a shutout in the team's past five games. Josh Robinson shut out Alaska on March 16 and Tyler Beskorowany shut out San Francisco on Wednesday. The game marked Idaho's seventh shutout of the season. Idaho (45-19-7, 95 points) scored first midway through the first period when Ben Ondrus tipped a Rylan Galiardi centering pass over Taylor Nelson's shoulder at 10:43 of the opening frame to make it 1-0. San Francisco nearly tied the game on a short-handed breakaway, but Rawlings denied Tommy Grant to send Idaho into the locker room after one period with a one-goal lead. Rawlings made a series of big saves throughout the second to protect Idaho's slim, one-goal lead before the Steelheads were able to add a little insurance when Adrian Foster re-directed a Galiardi shot past Nelson at 15:12 of the second to put Idaho on top, 2-0. The Steelheads blew the game open early in the third with three goals in a span of 3:05. First, at 2:59, it was Rob Linsmayer's first professional goal. Off an offensive-zone draw, the puck was quickly passed to Linsmayer and the Holy Cross product snapped a one-timer past Nelson to make it 3-0 in favor of the Steelheads. At 4:42, James Isaacs took a power-play pass from Matt Case and stepped into a blast from the left-hand circle that beat Nelson over the glove hand to make it 4-0. That ended Nelson's night, but not the Idaho run. At 6:04, less than 90 seconds after Travis Fullerton entered the game in net for the Bulls, he gave up a rebound to Foster who back-handed home his second of the night, 11th of the season, to extend the lead to 5-0 and remove all doubt. Rawlings was seldom tested over the final 14 minutes as Idaho clamped down defensively on the Bulls to secure the shutout. Galiardi and Austin Smith each had three assists on the night while Foster (2 goals) and Isaacs (goal, assist) also had multiple-point nights for the Steelheads. Idaho was just 1-for-10 on the power play, but were 2-2 on the penalty kill in the victory. The Steelheads wrap up the regular season Saturday night at Stockton against the Thunder. The ECHL Kelly Cup Playoffs, presented by KeyBank, return to CenturyLink Arena on Wednesday and Thursday, April 3 and 4, to open a best-of-seven, first-round matchup against the Colorado Eagles. Tickets are available by calling the CenturyLink Arena box office at 208.331.8497 or by going online at www.idahosteelheads.com COORS OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME - Rylan Galiardi CENTURYLINK THREE STARS: 1) Chris Rawlings (ID) 2) Adrian Foster (ID) 3) Austin Smith (ID) Group outings at a Steelheads game are a great way to gather friends, colleagues, or co-workers for a fun night out in downtown Boise. Ticket prices are discounted and you can get a Pepsi, Double-R Ranch Hot Dog, and bag of Tim?s Cascade Chips with each ticket. Contact the Steelheads front office at 208.383.0080 or log on to www.idahosteelheads.com for more information.