STEELHEADS THROTTLE GRIZZLIES, 6-1

STEELHEADS THROTTLE GRIZZLIES, 6-1

WEST VALLEY CITY, UT – The Idaho Steelheads (21-5-0-1, 43pts) defeated Utah Grizzlies (8-17-0-0, 16pts) by a final score of 6-1 Friday night. The Steelheads head into the holiday break in first place in the entire ECHL. 

With 2:26 left in the first period Keaton Mastrodonato (16^th) gave the Steelheads a 1-0 lead firing a wrist shot from the right dot into the top left corner with Jack Becker and Matt Register collecting assists. Idaho led 1-0 after the stanza outshooting the Grizzlies 11-9. 

82 seconds into the second period Wade Murphy (16^th) ripped a shot from the left circle into the top right corner making 2-0 with Register picking up his second helper of the night. Five minutes later Tyler Penner would get the Grizzlies on the board cutting the Utah deficit down to 2-1. Steelheads took the lead into the dressing room after 40 minutes of play as each team had a power-play chance in the frame but didn’t convert. Shots were 10-7 Utah. 

Idaho broke through offensively scoring three goals in the first 6:53 of the final period to grab a 6-1 lead. Mark Rassell (19^th) scored a power-play goal just five seconds into the man advantage and 86 seconds into the period. Ty Pelton-Byce won the face-off back in the left circle. From the top of the circle Rassell fed Patrick Kudla on the left-wing boards. Rassell raced to the right circle and received a pass from Kudla above the right dot where he sent a wrist shot into the top left corner. Just 2:20 later Rassell (20^th) was sprung on a breakaway by Murphy and split the wickets of Giannuzzi making it 4-1. Then 3:07 later Pelton-Byce (7^th) was fed by Rassell at the left dot where he fired a wrist shot upstairs making it 5-1. With just 2:14 left in the game Pelton-Byce (8^th) scoring his second of the game on a two on one. In the left circle he tried to find Mastrodonato for a diagonal feed, but the puck hit the Utah defender and into the back of the net. 

Jared Moe made 29 saves on 30 shots in the win while Dante Giannuzzi made 27 saves on 33 shots in the loss. 

BOX SCORE

ICCU Three Stars

1. Ty Pelton-Byce (2-2-4, +4, 3 shots)
2. Mark Rassell (2-1-3, +2, 3 shots)
3. Wade Murphy (1-1-2, +3, 3 shots) 

GAME NOTES

• Idaho went 1-for-3 power-play while Utah was 0-for-2.
• Idaho was outshot Utah 33-30. 
• Idaho is 131-64-6 all-time vs. Utah and 60-34-13 in West Valley City, UT. 
• Jade Miller (INJ), Demetrios Koumontzis (INJ), and Ben Zloty (SICK) did not dress for Idaho.
• Ty Pelton-Byce (2-2-4) recorded his second four-point game of the season, ninth mulit-point game and second multi-goal game. 
• Mark Rassell (2-1-3) tallied his third three-point game of the season, 11^th multi-point game and fifth multi-goal game.
• Wade Murphy (1-2-3) recorded his fourth three-point game and team leading 12^th multi-point game. He leads the ECHL in points (16-23-39). 
• Jack Becker and Matt Register each tallied two assists while Patrick Kudla and Romain Rodzinski notched one. 

Call the Steelheads Front Office at 208-383-0080 for ticket packages for this season. Stay up to date with all things Steelheads on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Watch all Steelheads home games on FloHockey and KTVB 24/7 (Channel 7.2) and listen on the Steelheads flagship station 95.3 FM KTIK “The Ticket”.