BOISE, ID. – The Idaho Steelheads (29-11-4-0) fell to the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (19-16-4-1) 5-4 in overtime on Friday night inside Idaho Central Arena. The two teams will conclude the three-game set on Saturday with puck drop set for 7:10 p.m. MT.
The Steelheads took advantage of an early power play as Ty Pelton-Byce put home a loose puck at the side of the crease to give Idaho a 1-0 lead. Three minutes later, Greenville’s Parker Berge deposited the puck in the top right corner from just inside the right circle to tie the game 1-1.
Mason Nevers concluded the first period scoring after receiving a pass in the slot from Nick Canade and scoring through the back door at the 17:35 mark to put the Steelheads ahead 2-1.
In the second period, Greenville tied the contest 2-2 as Wade Murphy fired a seeing-eye shot from the top of the right circle past Idaho netminder Ben Kraws just under two minutes into the frame.
Idaho retook the lead shortly after as Chris Dodero buried his third goal of the season from in tight to give the Steelheads a 3-2 edge. The Swamp Rabbits stormed back with a goal just 45 seconds later as Josh Atkinson fed Dante Sherriff in front to tie the game once more early in the middle frame.
Just 23 seconds into the third period, Greenville took a 4-3 lead as Keaton Mastrodonato redirected a puck past Ben Kraws’ blocker side for a power play goal.
Liam Malmquist roared back for the Steelheads, ripping a one-timer from just below the right faceoff dot to tie the game 4-4 just over 90 seconds later.
With no scoring for the remainder of regulation, the two teams once again went to overtime.
In the extra session, Mastrodonato netted the game winner for Greenville just over 90 seconds into OT with a right circle shot for his 13th goal of the season and second of the game.
Idaho’s Ben Kraws turned aside 22 shots in the loss. Greenville’s Isaiah Saville made 10 saves before leaving the game due to injury. Mattias Sholl earned the win and turned aside 29 shots in relief.
BOX SCORE
ICCU THREE STARS
1) Keaton Mastrodonato (GVL, 2-0-2, 0, 5 shots, OT goal)
2) Wade Murphy (GVL, 1-2-3, +1, 1 shot)
3) Jeff Baum (IDH, 0-2-2, +1, 2 shots)
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