TY PELTON-BYCE SCORES OVERTIME WINNER AS STEELHEADS COME FROM BEHIND

TROIS-RIVIÈRES, QC – The Idaho Steelheads (11-7-1-0, 23pts) defeated the Trois-Rivières Lions (9-3-3-0, 21pts) Wednesday night by a final score of 3-2 in front of 1,659 fans at the Colisée Vidéotron. Idaho and Trois-Rivières will meet on Friday at 5 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. 

Idaho trailed 2-0 after the opening period despite outshooting Trois-Rivières 13-5. Anthony Beauregard made it 1-0 at 6:06 and then Jakov Novak finished on the power-play 3:31 later. 

The Steelheads scored twice in the second period tying the score at 2-2 through 40 minutes of play. Connor MacEachern (11^th) found the back of the net for his fourth straight game coming six minutes into the period from Hank Crone and Matt Register. Then Crone (9^th) tied the game at 12:26 on a one-timer from below the right circle. He led a three-on-two down the ice and at the right circle fed MacEachern down the center lane. From there he fed Crone back below the right circle where he beat Hunter Jones low. Shots were 12-7 Idaho as it took Trois-Rivières 11:20 to record their first shot of the period. 

In the third period Connor Punnett and Wyatt McLeod dropped the gloves with 7:56 remaining in regulation with the score still tied at 2-2. The game went to four-on-four play when Reece Harsch and Logan Nihjoff went to the penalty box with 4:27 to play. Idaho went on their third power-play of the night with 2:13 to play in regulation but it ended just 27 seconds in as the Steelheads were assessed a penalty. The Steelheads outshot the Lions 12-7 in the final stanza but the game needed overtime to decide a winner with the score still at 2-2 through 60 minutes. 

Idaho began overtime short-handed for 14 seconds and were able to kill it off. Pelton-Byce (11^th) ended the game 84 seconds into overtime with a wrist shot from the high slot beating Jones low blocker for a 3-2 win. The play started through the neutral zone when Register fed Crone down the right wing. Crone got to the right circle and cut to the middle but had the puck knifed off his stick. Register from the circle helped work it back to Pelton-Byce where he stepped into the shot. 

Ben Kraws made 17 saves on 19 shots in the win improving to 6-1-1 on the season while Hunter Jones made 37 saves on 40 shots in the loss. 

BOX SCORE

ICCU Three Stars
1) Ty Pelton-Byce (IDH, 1-1-2, +2, 7 shots)              
2) Anthony Beauregard (TR, 1-1-1, 1 shot)             
3) Connor MacEachern (IDH, 1-1-2, +1, 5 shots)     

GAME NOTES

• Idaho went 0-for-3 on the power-play while Trois-Rivières went 1-for-4.      
• Idaho outshot Trois-Rivières 40-19… It was the third straight game the Steelheads have produced 40 shots. 
• Mark Olver (DNP), A.J. White (INJ), and Slava Demin (INJ) did not dress for Idaho.
• Idaho has outscored their opponents 11-2 in the second period in their last four games.
• Idaho has won two of their last four games when trailing after the first period and are now 3-3 when down after the opening 20 minutes of play.
• The Steelheads have fallen behind 1-0 in four straight games but have won three of them.
• Idaho has won three straight games for the second time this season… They’ve won five of their last six games and four straight games on the road.
• Ty Pelton-Byce notched his fourth career regular season overtime winner as a Steelhead and notched a goal and an assist for his team leading eighth multi-point game of the season… His 24 points are tied for second while his 11 goals are tied for third… He led all skaters with seven shots.  
• Connor MacEachern stretched his goal streak to four games, the longest by an Idaho skater this season… He finished with an assist for his sixth multi-point game of the year… He leads all rookies with 21 points.
• Hank Crone snapped a six-game goal-less skid and finished with two assists for his seventh multi-point game of the year… His 24 points are tied for second in the league.
• Matt Register finished with two assists… He has four, two assist games in his last six contests… His 17 assists on the season lead all league skaters.

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