STEELHEADS WIN 5-4 IN NAIL BITING FINISH WITH 37 SECONDS LEFT

BOISE, ID – The Idaho Steelheads (18-13-3-0, 39pts) defeated the Florida Everblades (23-7-3-0, 49pts) Friday night by a final score of 5-4 in front of 5,309 fans at the Idaho Central Arena, the 53^rd consecutive regular season sell-out. Idaho and Florida will wrap up this three-game series Saturday night in Boise at 7:10 p.m. 

Ben Brar gave the Everblades a 1-0 lead at 6:54 of the first period but shortly after Idaho would score a pair of goals 19 seconds apart from one another capturing a 2-1 advantage. Brendan Hoffmann (14^th) 83 seconds after Idaho fell beHind tied the game at 1-1 on a shot from inside the right circle into the top left corner from Andrei Bakanov and Mason McCarty. At 8:36 Patrick Moynihan (3^rd) put the Steelheads in front 2-1 with a quick release from the right circle snapping it into the bottom left corner on a feed from A.J. White and Demetrios Koumontzis. Idaho led 2-1 after the first period despite being outshot 15-8 in the stanza. 

Kyle Betts evened the score for Florida just 67 seconds into the game before Reece Harsch (3^rd) sent a wrist shot from the center point into the net at 10:55 from White and Punnett making it 3-2. Idaho was outshot 16-9 in the period but led by one heading into the final frame. 

Florida potted a pair of goals early in the third taking a 4-3 lead as Logan Lambdin tied the game at 5:32 and then 57 seconds later Anton Malmström provided the equalizer. Idaho’s Andrei Bakanov (4^th) in his Idaho debuted would even the contest at 4-4 with just 4:32 remaining cashing in on a rebound in the blue paint after Demtrios Koumontzis drove the puck to the net and Blake Swetlikoff recorded the secondary assist. The Everbaldes thought they had re-gained the lead with 1:57 remaining in regulation but after video review the goal would be called back. From that Florida forward Alex Kile received a two-minute unsportsmanlike conduct minor and a ten-minute misconduct putting Idaho on a 5-on-4 power-play with less than two minutes to play. The Steelheads then headed on a five-on-three with 45 seconds left as Carson Gicewicz got the gate for a tripping minor and a ten-minute misconduct. Idaho’s Brendan Hoffmann (15^th) provided the game winning goal on the man advantage at the top of the blue paint from A.J. White and Patrick Kudla handing the Steelheads a 5-4 win. 

Ben Kraws made 38 saves on 42 shots in the win while Will Cranley turned aside 20 of 25 shots in the loss. 

BOX SCORE

ICCU Three Stars

1) Brendan Hoffmann (IDH, 2-0-2, 4 shots)                      

2) Andrei Bakanov (IDH, 1-1-2, +1, 2 shots)                      

3) A.J. White (IDH, 0-3-3, +2, 3 shots)              

GAME NOTES

• Idaho finished 1-for-4 on the power-play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill           
• Florida outshot Idaho 42-25. 
• Romain Rodzisnki (IR), Francesco Arcuri (IR), Connor MacEachern (IR), Ty Pelton-Byce (IR), Hank Crone (IR), C.J. Walker (IR) and Nick Canade (IR) did not dress for Idaho.
• With three assists A.J. White hit 400 ECHL points recording his fifth multi-point game of the year, his third three assist game. His 25 assists are tied for fifth in the ECHL.
• Brendan Hoffmann notched his team leading fifth multi-goal game of the season and has eight goals in his last 10 games.
• Andrei Bakanov scored a goal and added an assist in his Steelheads debut while Mason McCarty picked up his first point as a Steelhead with a helper in his second game.
• Patrick Moynihan scored his second goal in four games with Idaho and has two goals and one assist to begin his Idaho career.
• Reece Harsch scored his third goal of the season snapping a eight-game goal-less drought, all three of his goals have come on home ice.
• Demetrios Koumontzis had two assists and now has one goal and two assists in five games with Idaho since making his season debut back on Dec. 31.
• Connor Punnett, Patrick Kudla, and Blake Swetlikoff also notched an assist.
• Ben Kraws has won three straight games for the first time this season improving to (10-2-3) on the year.

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