PREVIEW: IDAHO STEELHEADS (4-5-1) @ KALAMAZOO WINGS (3-4-1)

SUNDAY, NOV. 4, 2018 | 1:00 PM | WINGS EVENT CENTER | KALAMAZOO, MIRADIO: 1350AM KTIK | STREAM: ECHL TV

Tonight’s Game: The Steelheads complete their six-game, 12-day road trip with a matinee game against the Kalamazoo Wings from the Wings Event Center.

Head-To-Head: This is the first and only meeting of the season between the Steelheads and Wings, marking the second team this week the Steelheads will play an opponent for their lone meeting of the year. The Steelheads and Wings have played each other just three times with the Wings taking two of their three contests with a 1-1-1 record for the Steelheads.

Last Night: The Steelheads scored two in the third period but slipped late in a 3-2 loss to the Toledo Walleye on Saturday night at Huntington Center. Walleye forward Tyler Spezia (15:21 1st) opened the scoring for the home side to take an early 1-0 lead, and forward A.J. Jenks (19:10 2nd) followed up with another tally to double the lead, 2-0. Steelheads forward A.J. White (5:13 3rd) began the pushback with a goal to cut the lead in half, 2-1, and forward Steve McParland (PP, 12:08 3rd) tied the game at 2-2 on a breakaway. However, Walleye forward Shane Berschbach (14:01 3rd) nudged Toledo ahead, making the difference in a 3-2 loss for the Steelheads. Pat Nagle (5-0-1) halted 33 of 35 shots in the win, while Tomas Sholl (1-1-0) turned aside 25 of 28 shots in the loss.

Three-In-Three: The Steelheads close out their second three-game, three-day set of the season with one game and one set still remaining. The Steelheads have dropped the first two games in their first two three-game sets, going 0-3-1 in those contests with three one-goal differentials. However, the Steelheads won their third game on October 14 in Tulsa (5-4 SOW) to get three of a possible three points. While the Steelheads don’t have that chance this time, they can still earn two points to close the weekend.

All About Three: The two goals in the third period of last night’s loss continues an illustration of the comeback strength of this year’s Steelheads team. Despite the loss, the Steelheads spread their lead in scoring in the third period to nearly a 2:1 ratio, now moving to a 9-5 goal advantage along with a 95-72 shot advantage. The Steelheads haven’t had positive results in all of their comeback attempts, now sitting at 2-5-0-0 on the year when trailing through two periods of play.

Close Shaves: After bucking their trend for the previous two games this week, the Steelheads were part of another one-goal game in Saturday night’s loss. That makes it eight of the team’s first 10 games resulting in a one-goal separation by the end of the night, and four of those results have come in regulation. Overall this season, the Steelheads are 3-4-0-1 in games separated by one goal but are 0-4 in games finishing in regulation. It’s also worth noting the team is 2-0-0-0 in games landing not on a Friday or Saturday.

Scoring Touch: Forward Steve McParland has cemented himself in the early portion of the season as a consistent point-scorer on this year’s team, averaging one point per game with 10 tallies (5g, 5a) through his first 10 contests to lead the team. McParland has points in seven of his first 10 games and now has 68 points (36g, 32a) through 78 career games with the Steelheads.

Winging It: The Kalamazoo Wings are also in the midst of their own three-game, three-day schedule, however they’ve gone back and forth between home and road games. Like the Steelheads, the Wings have dropped both of their first two games in regulation but with vastly different scorelines, falling 7-1 on Friday at home to Cincinnati and 6-3 in Fort Wayne last night. The Wings have now lost four-straight games with a 0-3-0-1 record during that span while going 1-2-0-1 at the Wings Event Center.

The Brand Man: The Wings have relied heavily on the work of goaltender Jake Hildebrand early in the season, having him appear in all eight games so far. Over his last two games, he’s been charged with 10 goals on 61 shots (.836) while only getting four goals to help on the other end in front of him. The Butler, Penn., native is in the middle of his fourth ECHL season with four different organizations and third in a full-time status, going 42-44-13 with a 3.50 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage through 105 career games. In each of the last two seasons with Tulsa (2017-18) and Indy (2016-17), he’s played over 40 games.

Next Game: The Steelheads return to CenturyLink Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 7:10pm against the Tulsa Oilers. Tickets are available by calling 383-0080 or going to www.IdahoSteelheads.com. Coverage begins at 6:50 p.m. MT on 1350-AM KTIK and ECHL TV as well as 7:00 p.m. on CableOne Channel 72.