STEELHEADS EXTEND POINT STREAK TO SIX GAMES WITH 6-3 VICTORY OVER RUSH

STEELHEADS EXTEND POINT STREAK TO SIX GAMES WITH 6-3 VICTORY OVER RUSH  

RAPID CITY, SD – The Idaho Steelheads (31-13-2-1, 65pts) defeated the Rapid City Rush (19-26-2-0, 40pts) Wednesday morning by a final score of 6-3 in front of 5,118 fans for the Rush’s Annual School Day Game. Idaho and Rapid City will meet Friday and Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. (MT).  

The Steelheads led 2-1 after the opening 20 minutes of playing despite falling behind 1-0 as Blake Bennett (18^th) gave the Rush a 1-0 lead 4:57 into the game. A.J. White (17^th) tied the game at 10:43 with his second goal in just as many games. Patrick Kudla from the blueline fed White in the high slot where White sent a wrist shot of the stick of goaltender Matt Radomsky that went off the back wall. White got his own rebound back on the near side of the goal line and banged it home. Idaho received the game’s first power-play at 11:23 and at 13:20 Ty Pelton-Byce (13^th) made it 2-1 Idaho with his second power-play goal in just as many games. Patrick Kudla from the point fed Wade Murphy at the near dot. Murphy then connected with Pelton-Byce at the far dot and from there he sent a wrist shot upstairs. Shots were 17-9 in favor of Idaho in the first frame. 

Idaho opened things up in the second period scoring three times to take a 5-1 lead into the dressing room after 40 minutes of work. Mark Rassell (26^th, 27^th) scored a pair of goals in the opening 5:46 handing Idaho a 4-1 advantage. His first of the period came 68 seconds in as A.J. White carried the puck down the high slot and fed Rassell below the right circle where he directed the puck home. Then 4:38 later Jordan Kawaguchi from the left circle setup Rassell at the right circle where he sent a one-timer into the cage. With 3:07 left in the stanza Colton Kehler (7^th) was sprung on a breakaway from Will Merchant and in the high slot Kehler snapped a wrist shot low near side making 5-1. Shots were 11-7 Steelheads in the frame. 

Blake Bennett (19^th) scored a five-on-three power-play goal 2:52 into the third period for his second of the game cutting the Rush deficit down to 5-2. Just 2:58 later Demetrois Koumontzis (5^th)  found the back of the net for his third straight game giving Idaho back a four-goal lead. Nicholas Canade drove into the offensive zone down the center lane and fed Koumontzis in the right circle where he snapped a wrist shot into the top left corner. Alex Aleardi (17^th) got the Rush on the board with 1:52 left in the game but the Steelheads would prevail 6-3.  

Jared Moe made a career high 40 saves on 43 shots in in the win while Matt Radomsky made 19 saves on 24 shots and was pulled after two periods. Jason Pawloski turned aside 

BOX SCORE

ICCU Three Stars

1. Mark Rassell (2-0-2, +1, 3 shots) 
2. Jordan Kawaguchi (0-3-3, +3, 1 shot) 
3. Ty Pelton-Byce (1-0-1, -1, 3 shots) 

GAME NOTES

• Idaho went 1-for-2 on the power-play while Rapid City was 1-for-4. 
• Idaho was outshot 43-36. 
• Idaho is 64-26-2 all-time vs. Rapid City and 32-15-2 in Rapid City. Idaho improved  
• Sam Sternschein (IR), Lynden McCallum (IR), Bryan Thomson (IR), Willie Knierim (INJ), and Bailey Conger (DNP), and Lincoln Erne (DNP) did not dress for Idaho.
• The Steelheads have points in six straight games (5-0-1) and are (8-2-1) in their last 11 games.  
• Ty Pelton-Byce increased his point streak to a career long nine games with a power-play goal for his second straight game. 
• Wade Murphy extended his point streak to 10 games with an assist in his 100^th game as a Steelhead. 
• Francesco Arcuri tallied an assist and now has points in four straight games. 
• Mark Rassell scored twice for his team leading seventh multi-goal game of the year.   
• Jordan Kawaguchi recorded three assists while Patrick Kudla tallied two for his 10^th multi-point game of the season leading all Idaho defenders.  
• A.J. White scored a goal while adding also adding an assist and tied for the Idaho lead with five shots on net. 

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