Steelheads End Road Trip with 4-0 Shutout Win Over Rush

RAPID CITY, S.D. – Tomas Sholl stopped all 20 shots faced for his third shutout of the season as the Idaho Steelheads (39-22-5) take down the Rapid City Rush (27-3-2) with a 4-0 win on Saturday night from Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. The Steelheads finish the road trip with a 4-1-0 record and four-straight wins.

Scoring didn’t begin until late in the first period following good possession for stretches by both the Steelheads and the Rush. At 19:21, a Steelheads shot from the blue line led to a scrum at the net, and Elgin Pearce batted in a rebound from the right post to edge the road side ahead, 1-0.

The Steelheads doubled up their advantage early in the second period with the first goal by the netminder not on a rebound. At 3:48, Steelheads defenseman Charlie Dodero led a rush up the left wing and sniped a shot from the left circle, spreading the road lead to 2-0.

In the third period, the Steelheads added two more insurance goals to help seal off the rush. At 7:53, Steelheads forward Will Merchant was fed by forward Robbie Payne in the high slot and fired a shot into the net to triple the lead, 3-0. Steelheads forward Kyle Schempp added to the lead at 12:38 with a power play goal from the left circle on his second shot in the offensive possession, and with the Rush held off the Steelheads sailed to a 4-0 win.

Steelheads netminder Tomas Sholl (24-11-0) stopped all 20 shots in his third shutout of the season, all of which have come in Rapid City. Rush goaltender Adam Carlson (19-16-5) stopped 23 of 27 shots in the loss.

The Steelheads return to CenturyLink Arena on Wednesday, Mar. 27 at 7:10 p.m. to pick up their five-game stretch with the Rush. Tickets are available by calling 208-383-0080 or going to idahosteelheads.com. Coverage begins at 6:50 p.m. on 1350 KTIK-AM and at 7:00 p.m. on Cable One Channel 72 and ECHL.TV.

Tickets for the 2019 U.S. Bank Kelly Cup Playoffs, presented by SmileDirectClub, will be available in the coming weeks, so follow idahosteelheads.com to see when tickets go on sale. Single-game tickets and ticket packages are available for the rest of the 2018-19 season. Contact the Idaho Steelheads at 208-383-0080 for more information or log on to idahosteelheads.com.