BOISE, ID – The Idaho Steelheads (16-12-3-0, 35pts) fell to the Utah Grizzlies (9-17-3-0, 21pts) Friday night by a final score of 4-1 in front of 5,217 fans at the Idaho Central Arena, the 50th consecutive regular season sell-out. Idaho will wrap up the two-game series against Utah Saturday night at 7:10 p.m.
Idaho trailed 2-0 after the first period as Craig Armstrong gave the Grizzlies a 1-0 lead at 6:41 then Dylan Fitze increased the advantage with 3:16 remaining in the frame. Shots were 18-9 Utah as Idaho went 0-for-1 on the period’s only power-play.
Just 25 seconds into the second period Patrick Kudla (5th) made it a one-goal game on a setup from A.J. White at the right circle finding Kudla back door. At 5:19 of the frame Andrew Nielsen would give Utah back a two-goal lead as they took a 3-1 advantage into the dressing room after 40 minutes of play. Shots were 13-12 Idaho in the period.
65 seconds into the third period Neil Shea made it a 4-1 final score handing Utah the road victory.
Bryan Thomson made 37 saves on 41 shots in the loss while Jackson Barczewski allowed one goal on 29 shots in the win.
ICCU Three Stars
1) Andrew Nielsen (UTA)
2) Cody Corbett (UTA)
3) Neil Shea (UTA)
GAME NOTES
- Idaho and Utah each finished 0-for-2 on the power-play.
- Utah outshot Idaho 41-29.
- Romain Rodzisnki (IR), Tomas Sholl (IR), Francesco Arcuri (IR), Connor MacEachern (IR), Ty Pelton-Byce (INJ), and Hank Crone (INJ) did not dress for Idaho.
- Patrick Kudla scored in his 150th game as a Steelhead and has scored two goals in his last four games.
- Patrick Moynihan tallied an assist in his Steelheads debut while A.J. White has eight assists over his last 11 games.
- Pito Walton made his Idaho debut while Matt Ustaski made his Steelheads season debut.
- Brendan Hoffmann led all Idaho skaters with four shots.
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”.
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