BOISE, ID – The Idaho Steelheads (21-15-4-0, 46pts) fell to the Tulsa Oilers (22-13-4-2, 50pts) Saturday night by a final score of 4-3 in overtime. It was the 56th regular season sell-out crowd in front of the largest attended game of the year with 5,317 fans.
After a scoreless first period A.J. White (6th) gave Idaho a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal from Patrick Moynihan and Connor MacEachern on the power-play. From the left corner MacEachern found White in the left circle where he sent a shot into the bottom far corner. The Oilers tied the game at 5:18 of the period thanks to Olivier Dame-Malka and then 3:21 later Connor Roulette gave Tulsa a 2-1 lead. With 1:38 left in the frame Andrei Bakanov (6th) evened the score at 2-2 from Matt Register and Francesco Arcuri. Register from the right circle fed Bakanov in the high slot where he sent a shot past Talyn Boyko.
Josh Nelson put the Oilers on top 3-2 just 2:31 into the third period. Idaho pulled goaltender Tomas Sholl with a few minutes to go, and Andrei Bakanov (7th) scored the extra attacker goal with just 17 seconds left from Brendan Hoffmann and Francesco Arcuri to force overtime. Arcuri from the blue line sent the puck down the left-wing wall where Hoffmann collected it behind the net. From there he fed Bakanov on the left side of the goal line where he sent a shot past Boyko near side from a sharp angle.
With 2:12 remaining in overtime Reid Petryk would send a shot past Sholl from the high slot handing the Oilers a 4-3 overtime win.
Tomas Sholl made 45 saves on 49 shots in the overtime loss while Talyn Boyko made 28 saves on 31 shots in the win.
ICCU Three Stars
1) Tomas Sholl (IDH, 45 saves)
2) Duggie Lagrone (TUL)
3) Andrei Bakanov (IDH, 2-0-2, +1, 3 shots)
GAME NOTES
- Idaho finished 1-for-4 on the power-play while Tulsa went 0-for-2.
- Tulsa outshot Idaho 49-31.
- Nick Canade (IR), Wade Murphy (IR), C.J. Walker (IR), Ty Pelton-Byce (IR), Patrick Kudla (INJ), Blake Swetlikoff (DNP), Connor Punnett (SUSP), and Hank Crone (IR) did not dress for Idaho.
- Tomas Sholl finishes his Idaho career (66-21-8) including (39-8-3) in Boise. His 66 wins are second most in Idaho’s ECHL era while his 12 shutouts are the franchise record.
- Matt Register extended his assist streak to five games.
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