PREVIEW: IDAHO STEELHEADS (4-4-1) @ TOLEDO WALLEYE (6-1-1)

SATURDAY, NOV. 3, 2018 | 5:15 PM | HUNTINGTON CENTER | TOLEDO, OHRADIO: 1350AM KTIK | STREAM: ECHL TV

Tonight’s Game: The Steelheads finish their two-game weekend against the Toledo Walleye from Huntington Center and play the midway game of their three-game weekend.

Head-To-Head: The Walleye picked up the first of the their five-game series and one of their two games in Toledo, but the Steelheads still have the lead for their total franchise series. The Steelheads met the former Toledo Storm in February of 2004, taking them down 3-1 and 7-5 in Toledo, which puts the Steelheads up 2-1 in the total series but trail 1-0 against the Walleye. The Storm played in the ECHL from 1991-2007.

Last Night: The Steelheads slipped 4-0 to the Walleye on Friday night at Huntington Center. Walleye forward Greg Wolfe (1:26 1st) opened the scoring for an early 1-0 lead followed by forward Shane Berschbach (6:59 1st) to double the lead, 2-0. On the power play, Walleye forward A.J. Jenks (PP, 16:05 1st) tripled the lead, 3-0, before the end of the opening period. After a quiet second period, Walleye forward T.J. Hensick (2:10 3rd) added to the spread, putting the game out of reach at 4-0. Pat Nagle (4-0-1) stopped all 27 shots in the win, while Philippe Desrosiers (2-3-1) halted 27 of 31 shots in the loss.

The Road So Far: The Steelheads head into their 10th day of their six-game, 12-day road trip as well as their second of two Saturday home games. So far, the Steelheads have split their games down the middle with a 2-2-0 record and have stayed close in scoring overall, just being outpaced 12-10 in goals. Their 5-3 win on Tuesday was their best result thus far, and forward Steve McParland leads the team with five points (2g, 3a) closely followed by defenseman Jeff King with four points (1g, 3a). The Steelheads finish their trip with two more games: tonight in Toledo and tomorrow afternoon in Kalamazoo.

Shut Down: The Steelheads suffered their first shutout loss of the season during their first result with a blank scoreline for either side. Last season, the Steelheads were part of eight shutouts with seven of those going in Idaho’s favor. After conceding a 3-0 shutout loss on Oct. 20, 2017 in Utah, the Steelheads began their run with a 2-0 shutout win over Utah on Dec. 9, 2017. Tomas Sholl led in shutouts last season with four, and both Philippe Desrosiers and Ryan Farager split the other decisions with two each. None of the three goaltenders were part of the lone shutout loss.

Three-In-Threes: This is the second of three sets of three games in consecutive days during the 2018-19 season, and the team has had similar results to open the weekend. So far, the Steelheads have an overall 1-2-0-1 record in their three-in-three series with losses coming on night one. The Steelheads dropped their second game to Tulsa on opening weekend before winning in a shootout on Sunday afternoon to finish the weekend with three points in three games. The Steelheads will have one more three-game, three-day set to close the season in April against Utah.

Rear-Enders: The Steelheads continue to hold their strength in the second and third periods of games both in scoring and chances. The team has outscored their opponents by a combined 21-14 after the first period with their best frame coming in the third period, staying ahead 7-4 in goals. Shots are a similar trend with the Steelheads averaging 11.11 shots per period through the second and third periods compared to 9.11 shots per frame for their opposition. However, the Steelheads are being outscored 14-4 in the first period and outshot 104-77 (11.56-8.56).

Hot, Hot, Hot: The Walleye have found a hot streak over the last few weeks, posting a five-game win streak and a six-game point streak thanks to last night’s win. Over the win streak, they’ve averaged 4.20 goals per game while holding opponents to 2.00 goals per contest. Three of their five games have been separated by one goal, but their other two wins have been by exactly four goals with their most tallies coming on Oct. 26 in Fort Wayne (7-3 W). The Walleye own the second-longest active win streak and point streak in the ECHL, only trailing Adirondack (six) in wins and Tulsa (7) in points.

No-No Nagle: Walleye goaltender Pat Nagle posted his first shutout of the season last night in a 27-save effort against his former team. It’s the first shutout of the year for the Walleye and the 14th professional shutout dating back to his debut season in 2011-12 with Florida. The Bloomfield, Mich., product has earned at least one shutout in seven of his eight seasons in the ECHL and sits in the top-20 in goals-against average (19th) and save percentage (18th). Nagle posted a 23-14-4 record with a 2.73 goals-against average, a .918 save percentage and one shutout through 43 games with the Steelheads in the 2013-14 season.

Next Game: The Steelheads finish their three-game, three-day weekend on Sunday, Nov. 4 at 1:00 p.m. against the Kalamazoo Wings. Coverage begins at 12:45 p.m. MT on 1350-AM KTIK and ECHL TV.