ANDREW BELLANT SCORES TWO GOALS WHILE BRYAN THOMSON MAKES 38 SAVES IN IDAHO’S 5-2 WIN OVER TULSA

BOISE, ID – The Idaho Steelheads (21-15-3-0, 45pts) defeated the Tulsa Oilers (21-13-4-2, 48pts) Friday night by a final score of 5-2 in front of a sell-out crowd of 5,246 fans at the Idaho Central Arena, the 55^th consecutive regular season sell-out crowd. Idaho and Tulsa will meet Saturday at 7:10 p.m.  

Idaho led 1-0 after the first period as Mason McCarty (3^rd) scored his first goal as a Steelhead from Jade Miller and Matt Register at 9:13. Register from the left-wing side of the red line sent the puck into the offensive zone where Miller retrieved it in the right circle and fed McCarty streaking to the net. Shots were 13-10 Oilers in the frame. 

Tulsa’s Connor Roulette tied the game at 1-1 just 3:08 into the second period. Idaho went on their second power-play of the night at 3:56 of the period and Brendan Hoffmann (16^th) would give the Steelheads back the lead from Andrew Bellant and Francesco Arcuri on the man advantage. Arcuri from the right half-boards fed Bellant near the high slot. From there Bellant slide the puck down to the left side of the goal line where Hoffmann sent a one-timer home making it 2-1. Idaho led 2-1 through 40 minutes of play as the Oilers outshot the Steelheads 15-12 in the period. 

Just 2:46 into the third period Tyler Poulsen tied the score for Tulsa at 2-2. Just 3:42 later Andrew Bellant (5^th) would give Idaho a 3-2 lead from Hoffmann and Arcuri. Arcuri Hoffmann slid the puck down the left boards where Arcuri met it in the left corner. From there he centered it for Bellant at the top of the crease. Idaho went on their third power-play of the night with 3:13 remaining in the game and with 24 seconds remaining in the man advantage Bellant (6^th) made it a 4-2 lead from Register and Hoffmann. Register from the blue line sent the puck towards the net which hit off the chest area of Hoffmann in front. Bellant would scoop it up a couple feet above the crease and turned it around on his backhand sending it into the net. Connor MacEachern (14^th) tacked on an empty net score at 18:46 sealing the 5-2 win. 

Bryan Thomson made 38 saves on 40 shots in the win while Vyacheslav Buteyets made 28 saves on 32 shots in the loss. 

BOX SCORE

ICCU Three Stars
1) Andrew Bellant (IDH, 2-1-3, +1, 5 shots)                       
2) Bryan Thomson (IDH, 38 saves)                       
3) Tyler Poulsen (TUL, 1-0-1, 6 shots)                

GAME NOTES

• Idaho finished 2-for-3 on the power-play while Tulsa went 0-for-2.            
• Tulsa outshot Idaho 40-33. 
• Nick Canade (IR), Wade Murphy (IR), C.J. Walker (IR), Ty Pelton-Byce (IR), Patrick Kudla (INJ), Slava Demin (DNP), and Hank Crone (IR) did not dress for Idaho.
• Andrew Bellant has (4-1-5) in six games with Idaho since being acquired from the Indy Fuel on Jan. 5.
• Brendan Hoffmann notched his ninth multi-point game of the season, his second three-point game. He has (3-5-8) over his last six games.
• Francesco Arcuri who was re-assigned earlier in the day from the Texas Stars tallied two assists.
• Jade Miller tallied an assist and has a point in back-to-back games.
• Connor MacEachern has two goals in his last four games.
• Jason Horvath tallied an assist in his Idaho debut. 
• Matt Register extended his point-streak to four games (0-5-5) with two assists for his 10^th multi-point game. 
• Bryan Thomson has won five of his last seven starts. He has made 30 or more saves in eight straight games and in 13 of 16 games this season.

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