ORLANDO, FL – The Idaho Steelheads (22-10-3-0) defeated the Orlando Solar Bears (12-18-4-1) 6-3 on Thursday night at Kia Center in Orlando. The two teams will continue their three-in-three series Friday night with puck drop set for 7:05 EST from Orlando.
Idaho opened the scoring 18:39 into the first period when Jade Miller beat Jon Gillies from a sharp angle for his ninth tally of the season.
Still up just 1-0 heading into the middle frame, Ty Pelton-Byce extended the Steelheads’ lead nine minutes into the period with a power play goal for his sixth goal of the season and fourth on the man advantage, with the latter number good enough for the team lead. The Solar Bears sprang into action in response, however, netting two goals in under two minutes with Connor Kurth and Anthony Bardaro each potting their sixth goals of the season to even the score.
One final push saw the Steelheads net a third goal before the end of the period, as Angus MacDonell nabbed his seventh goal of the season to restore Idaho’s lead heading into the final 20 minutes.
In those final 20 minutes the high-scoring affair picked up where it left off, with Francesco Arcuri providing another power play goal for the Steelheads to kick it off and extend his goalscoring streak to four games, giving Idaho a two-goal cushion with just over five minutes remaining.
Kaleb Pearson soon extended the lead to 5-2 with an empty net goal, but the Solar Bears stuck around, scoring just nine seconds later to stay within two. After a 6-on-4 penalty kill late in the game, the Steelheads finally sealed things with Miller scoring an empty net goal of his own in the final 30 seconds to complete a 6-3 win.
Idaho’s Ben Kraws stopped 39 of 42 shots in the win, while Jon Gillies turned aside 25 of 29 shots in the loss.
Idaho’s power play finished the night 2-for-4, while Orlando failed to score a power play goal on two attempts.
BOX SCORE
ICCU THREE STARS
1. Ty Pelton-Byce (IDH, 1-2-3, +1, 1 shot)
2. Jade Miller (IDH, 2-0-2, +1, 5 shots)
3. Kaleb Pearson (IDH, 1-2-3, 0, 6 shots)
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