BOISE, Idaho – The Idaho Steelheads (40-23-5) out-dueled the Rapid City Rush (28-32-9) in a 4-3 shootout win on Friday night from CenturyLink Arena in front of 5,182 fans, the 15th sellout of the season.
The Rush opened the scoring with the lone tally of the first period at 3:52 when forward Tyler Poulsen slipped a shot from the right circle to edge ahead 1-0.
The Steelheads answered back in the second period with the lone three goals of the frame. At 0:42, Steelheads forward Elgin Pearce batted a shot off the netminder’s pad that Spencer Naas threw in off the rebound to tie the game, 1-1. Then, at 6:03, Steelheads defenseman Ondrej Vala flipped shot from the blue line through traffic, taking the 2-1 lead before Pearce doubled the advantage with his own tally at 12:06 from the left corner, 3-1.
The Rush pushed back in the third period and broke the scoring streak at 3:24 with a goal from forward Cedric Montminy to draw within one, 3-2. With their netminder pulled, Rush forward Dylan Quaile angled a shot in at 17:46 to send the game into overtime at 3-3. In the shootout, Steelheads forward Steve McParland scored in the opening round, and forward Henrik Samuelsson secured the win, 4-3, in the third round with his own goal.
Steelheads netminder Tomas Sholl (24-12-0) stopped 29 of 30 shots in the win along with both attempts in the shootout, while Rush goaltender Adam Carlson (20-16-6) saved 35 of 38 shots in the shootout loss with one save on three shootout attempts.
The Steelheads and Rush close their season series on Saturday, Mar. 30 at 7:10 p.m. at CenturyLink Arena. 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.
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