STEELHEADS GRAB A POINT IN 6-5 OVERTIME LOSS VS. GRIZZLIES

STEELHEADS GRAB A POINT IN 6-5 OVERTIME LOSS VS. GRIZZLIES 

BOISE, ID – The Idaho Steelheads (30-13-2-1, 63pts) fell to the Utah Grizzlies (21-24-1-0, 43pts) Saturday night by a final score of 6-5 in overtime in front of 5,163 fans at the Idaho Central Arena. It was the 24^th sellout in the 25^th home game including the 22^nd consecutive. Idaho will be on the road for the next six games beginning next Wednesday in Rapid City for a School Day Game at 10:35 a.m.  

Idaho trailed Utah 3-2 after the opening 20 minutes of play despite outshooting the Grizzlies 17-7. Brandon Cutler (21^st) opened the scoring three minutes into the game making it 1-0 Utah. Just 4:52 later Idaho tied the game with a score from Jordan Kawaguchi (1^st). Trevor Zins at the left point fed Matt Register across the blue line. From there Register fed Kawaguchi in the high slot where he sent a shot through the wickets of Dante Giannuzzi. At 15:12 Adam Berg (8^th) gave Utah back the lead. With 2:07 left in the frame Demetrios Koumontzis (4^th) finished on a beautiful setup to tie the score at 2-2. Patrick Kudla from the blue line slid the puck in between his feet for Jade Miller racing in. Miller fed Koumontzis in the right circle for a one-timer that dribbled past Giannuzzi. Just 64 seconds later Brett Stapley (13^th) gave the Grizzlies a 3-2 lead heading into the intermission. 

Steelheads and Grizzlies were all tied at 4-4 through 40 minutes of work with Idaho outshooting Utah 17-10 in the middle frame. Aaron Aragon (10^th) increased the Grizzlies lead to 4-2 just 2:54 into the stanza but from there Idaho would score two unanswered. A.J. White (16^th) found the back of the net on the game’s first power-play with a shot from the high slot setup by Francesco Arcuri and Will Merchant. Then with just 3:10 left in the period Romain Rodzinski (3^rd) fired a one-timer upstairs from the point setup by Arcuri. 

Idaho took their first lead of the game at 4:48 of the third period as Ty Pelton-Byce (12^th)  scored on the power-play making it 5-4. Ben Zloty from the point slid the puck below the left circle to Wade Murphy. Murphy then fed Pelton-Byce in the right circle where he sent a shot upstairs over Giannuzzi. Brett Stapley (14^th) got his second goal of the night at 11:59 of the final frame to eventually force overtime. 

4:46 into the extra session the Steelheads were assessed a two-minute minor penalty. With 43.5 seconds left in overtime Nathan Burke (15^th) from the left circle sent a shot far side into the back of the net to hand Utah the 6-5 win. 

Bryan Thomson made four saves on eight shots and was pulled after 22:54. Jared Moe made 18 saves on 20 shots in 43:23 of relief. Dante Giannuzzi turned aside 45 of the 50 shots he faced in the win.

BOX SCORE

ICCU Three Stars

1. Brett Stapley (UTA, 2-1-3, +3, 8 shots) 
2. Nathan Burke (UTA, 1-1-2, +1, 2 shots) 
3. Jordan Kawaguchi (IDH, 1-0-1, +2, 5 shots) 

GAME NOTES

• Idaho went 2-for-2 on the power-play while Utah was 1-for-3. 
• Idaho outshot Utah 50-28.  
• Idaho is 132-64-26 all-time vs. Utah and 70-31-13 in Boise.  
• Sam Sternschein (IR), Lynden McCallum (IR), Cooper Jones (IR), Willie Knierim (DNP), and Bailey Conger (DNP) did not dress for Idaho. 
• Ty Pelton-Byce increased his point streak to a career long eight games with a power-play goal which was his 100^th career ECHL point. 
• Matt Register extended his point streak to four games with an assist. 
• Wade Murphy extended his point streak to nine games with an assist. 
• A.J. White scored his 10^th power-play goal of the season in his 500^th career ECHL game. 
• Jordan Kawaguchi scored his first goal of the season in his fourth game. 
• Patrick Kudla tallied an assist in his 100^th game as a Steelhead. 
• Francesco Arcuri tallied two assists. 

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