BOISE, Idaho – The Idaho Steelheads (30-17-3) were forced into bonus hockey but came out with a 3-2 overtime win over the Rapid City Rush (20-24-8) on Wednesday night from CenturyLink Arena.
The Steelheads scored twice in the first period in less than a two-minute span to open in the scoring. In his first game back in Idaho, Steelheads forward Reid Petryk fed forward Henrik Samuelsson in front of the net for an open goal at 4:17 to take a 1-0 lead. Steelheads forward Kyle Schempp deflected a shot from the blue line at 5:54 to double the advantage, 2-0.
Despite no scoring until late in the third period, the Steelheads held the flow of play for much of the contest, especially in the second and third periods. In the third period, the Rush scored two goals with the extra attacker starting with defenseman Chris Leibinger at 18:37 and followed by defenseman Riley Weselowski at 19:51 on the power play, sending the game into overtime at 2-2.
Steelheads defenseman Charlie Dodero made a move at 1:58 of overtime to put a shot on net and with help from a Rush defenseman gave the Steelheads the 3-2 overtime win. Steelheads goaltender Tomas Sholl (16-9-0) turned away 25 of 27 shots in the win, while Rush netminder Adam Carlson (13-13-5) halted 29 of 32 shots in the overtime loss.
The Steelheads and Rush continue their three-game weekend on Friday, Feb. 15 at 7:10 p.m. from CenturyLink Arena. Tickets are available by calling the Steelheads at 208-383-0080 or going online to idahosteelheads.com. Coverage begins at 6:50 p.m. on 1350AM KTIK and at 7:00 p.m. on CableOne Channel 72 and ECHL.TV.
Single-game tickets and season ticket packages are on sale, with full-season packages starting as low as $300 per seat. Contact the Idaho Steelheads at 208-383-0080 for more information or log on to idahosteelheads.com.
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