STATELINE, NV – The Idaho Steelheads (32-23-8-1, 73pts) fell to the Tahoe Knight Monsters (39-20-4-1, 85pts) Friday night by a final score of 3-2 in front of 4,203 fans at the Tahoe Blue Event Center. The Steelheads and Knight Monsters are back at it Saturday night at 8 p.m. (MT).
Francesco Arcuri (6th) gave the Steelheads a 1-0 lead from Connor Punnett and Wade Murphy with 4:40 remaining in the first period. Murphy sent a wraparound chance wide to the right hash marks where Punnett fed Arcuri at the left face-off dot. From there he sent a low wrist shot far side. Issac Johnson provided the equalizer for the Knight Monsters on the power-play with 22 seconds remaining in the frame.
Jett Jones scored the lone goal in the second period coming at 5:55 as the Knight Monsters led 2-1 through 40 minutes of play.
Ty Pelton-Byce (23rd) tied the game on the power-play with 8:32 to play in regulation from Murphy and Arcuri. From the right side of the goal line Pelton-Byce fed Arcuri in the right circle where he sent a shot towards the net that was tipped by Murphy and hopped out to Pelton-Byce back at the goal line where he banged it home making it 2-2. Issac Johnson provided the game winner with 4:52 to play in the game for his second tally of the night giving Tahoe a 3-2 win.
Ben Kraws made 14 saves on the 17 shots in the loss while Jesper Vikman made 38 saves on 40 shots in the win.
ICCU Three Stars
1) Jesper Vikman (TAH)
2) Issac Johnson (TAH)
3) Jett Jones (TAH)
GAME NOTES
- Idaho finished 1-for-4 on the power-play while Tahoe went 1-for-3.
- Idaho outshot Tahoe 40-17 including 21-5 in the third period.
- Patrick Moynihan (DNP), Mason McCarty (INJ), Parker Berge (INJ) Jason Horvath (IR), and Mark Olver (IR) did not dress for Idaho.
- Ty Pelton-Byce leads the ECHL with 13 power-play goals.
- Francesco Arcuri extended his point streak to three games with a goal and an assist while Wade Murphy has a point in three consecutive games after notching two assists.
- Brendan Hoffmann led all skaters with six shots.
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