PREVIEW: IDAHO STEELHEADS (5-1-2) @ UTAH GRIZZLIES (3-3-2)

SATURDAY, NOV. 12 2019 | 7:10 P.M. MTMAVERIK CENTER | WEST VALLEY CITY, UTRADIO: 1350 AM KTIK | STREAM: ECHL TV

Tonight’s Game: The Steelheads begin an eight-game road trip and continue their three-game weekend with the Utah Grizzlies from Maverik Center.

Head-To-Head: The Steelheads dropped their first game of the season against the Grizzlies but take on their third game at Maverik Center on the season set. Thus far, the Steelheads are 2-1-0 while the road team has won all three meetings thus far. The Steelheads recently won their 100th game against the Grizzlies on October 12, and this is meeting four of 16 during the course of the regular season with seven of those coming on the road. In the franchise series, the Steelheads now own a 100-51-26 record against the Grizzlies.

Last Night: The Steelheads battled in a back-and-forth game but fell 5-4 to the Grizzlies on Friday night from CenturyLink Arena. Steelheads forward Marc-Olivier Roy (4:37 1st) opened the scoring before the Grizzlies scored three-unanswered goals starting with forward Ryan Wagner (5:28 1st) and followed later by forwards Tim McGauley (18:13 1st) and Patrick McGrath (5:40 2nd) to leap ahead, 3-1. The Steelheads came back later in the period with tallies from forwards Kyle Schempp (14:13 2nd) and Brett Supinski (PP, 18:54 2nd) to knot the game at 3-3. Grizzlies forward Griffen Molino (8:15 3rd) and Steelheads forward Joe Basaraba (PP, 17:10 2nd) traded goals in the final frame, but Grizzlies forward Yuri Terao (18:01 3rd) put the game away at 5-4. Jeff Smith (3-0-0) turned away 35 of 39 shots in the win, while Colton Point (2-1-0) stopped 23 of 28 shots in the loss.

On The Road Again: The Steelheads open an eight-game road trip tonight in Utah over the next three weeks, closing out the early 13-of-16 road stretch to open the season. During their trip, the Steelheads play two more games in Utah before heading to Rapid City for a three-in-four next week and one more three-in-three Midwest trip. The Steelheads will play the Rush, who share the Mountain Division lead, for the first time as well as the Tulsa Oilers for one game (Nov. 17) while meeting Wichita (Nov. 16) and Allen (Nov. 18) for just one game during the final weekend. The Steelheads are 3-0-2 on the road this season but have dropped three of their last four overall games (1-1-2 record).

Power Trip: The Steelheads power play unit came out strong in the opening game of the weekend, netting their first multi-goal game of the season and scoring in two of only three chances. Though the power play unit hasn’t produced at will early in the season, the team has been able to score in four of their first eight games while going 3-for-8 (37.5%) over their last seven calendar days. With their performance last night, the power play leaps from 24th to 15th in the ECHL and also moves to fifth in home scoring (30.0%).

Mr. Cleans: This year’s Steelheads team has been one of the cleanest teams not only in the ECHL but also over their history despite a small sample size. With only four penalty minutes last night, the Steelheads own the second-fewest penalty minutes per game (9.25) while only conceding six power plays over their last three games and staying perfect in that stretch to also sit atop the ECHL in penalty kill percentage (88.9%). Currently, the team is on-pace for only 666 penalty minutes this season, which would leap over their lowest season total of 917 minutes set back in 2015-16 (13.49 PIM/game). The team has not seen a season average over 20.00 minutes per game since the 2007-08 season.

Marco, Polo: Steelheads forward Marc-Olivier Roy finally found the back of the net in last night’s loss but also extends two team-leading streaks while entering back into the lineup. His two-point night (1-1–2) moves his assist and point streaks to six games, and he continues to share the team lead in scoring with nine points (1g, 8a) with teammate Brett Supinski (5g, 4a). Roy inches closer to the team’s all-time mark in both categories held by forward Brett Robinson for assists (10) done with 18 assists from Feb. 21, 2015 through Mar. 13, 2015 and Mark Derlago for points (15) with 35 points (15g, 20a) from Jan. 8, 2010 through Feb. 13, 2010.

Taylor Made: Grizzlies captain Taylor Richart has been leading by example on the blue line, posting another assist on Friday night and extending his point streak to five games. During that time, the Blaine, Minn. product has six points (2g, 4a) with both goals coming on the power play, and his assist last night led to the game-winning goal. He currently owns the longest active point streak on the current roster and leads all Grizzlies defensemen in scoring.

MOUNTAIN DIVISION STANDINGS:

Next Game: The Steelheads conclude their three-game weekend against the Grizzlies on Sunday, Nov. 3 at 1:10 p.m. from Maverik Center. Coverage begins at 12:50 p.m. on 1350 KTIK-AM "The Ticket" & ECHL.TV.