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Idaho Steelheads

Balanced Steelheads Roll Past Thunder, 7-2

March 5, 2015 - ECHL (ECHL)
Idaho Steelheads News Release


Boise, ID (3/4/2015) - Seven different players scored goals Wednesday night as the Idaho Steelheads extended their winning streak to seven games with a convincing, 7-2, victory over the Stockton Thunder in front of 3,336 fans at Boise's CenturyLink Arena.

The winning streak is the longest for Idaho (36-16-4) since March 2010 and kept Idaho one point in front of the Colorado Eagles in the ECHL's Pacific Division standings.

The Steelheads fired 25 shots on net in the opening frame - the highest first-period total in the ECHL this season - but, for the first six minutes, Thunder netminder Cody Reichard managed to weather the storm. Finally, at the seven-minute mark, former Thunder defenseman Shawn Boutin netted his first with Idaho, a power-play shot from the center point assisted by Wade MacLeod and Brett Robinson, to make it 1-0. Idaho added another power-play tally at 14:43 when Robinson and MacLeod again teamed up to get the puck to Alex Belzile, who beat Reichard short-side from the bottom of the left-wing circle for his 20th goal of the season. Despite the heavy advantage in shots and scoring chances, a Tyler Shattock power-play goal with less than one second on the clock sent the Steelheads to the dressing room with just a one-goal lead, 2-1, after the first period.

Idaho authored another strong period in the second and was rewarded for its persistence. It started with some good fortune at 2:42, when a Drew Baker dump-in along the left-wing wall took an awkward hop off the glass and ricocheted past Reichard to make it 3-1. The goal was Baker's first with the Steelheads. At 8:45, defenseman Mike Dalhuisen buried a slap shot from the high slot, his second, to make it 4-1 and, less than a minute later, Tom Serratore scored his first ECHL goal off the rush from the inside edge of the left wing circle from Gaelan Patterson and Matt Case to give Idaho a 5-1 lead at 8:45.

Ludwig Karlsson netted his eighth of the season just 30 seconds into the third period from the right circle and, after another power-play tally for Stockton, Brett Robinson finished off the scoring with a rebound goal at 18:39, his 17th, to set the final margin of 7-2.

Idaho's 58 shots on net (25 in the first, 13 in the second, 20 in the third) was the second-highest shot total in the ECHL this season behind Tulsa's 62 on January 2. Robinson had a goal and two assists to extend his point streak to six consecutive games, leading a list of multi-point scores for Idaho that included MacLeod (three assists), Serratore (goal, assist) and Karlsson (goal, assist). Thirteen of the 14 skaters dressed for the game picked up at least one point and Baker and Troy Vance each had plus-3 ratings in the contest.

With Belzile's 20th goal this season, the Steelheads now have three players with over 20 goals: Belzile, MacLeod (25) and Jason Bast (25). It's the first time Idaho has had three twenty-goal scorers in the same season since 2010-11.

Henri Kiviaho stopped 20 of 22 shots to pick up his fifth win in his past six decisions, improving to 9-5-1 overall. Reichard actually turned aside 51 Idaho shots, but the steady pressure from the home team was simply too much as he took the loss. Each team converted on two of four power-play opportunities in the game.

The same two teams meet this weekend, March 6 and 7, for Idaho's annual "Pink in the Rink" weekend, with the team wearing special jerseys that will be auctioned off to raise money for St. Luke's Mountain States Tumor Institute.

Tickets are available online at www.idahosteelheads.com or by calling 208-331-8497.

COORS OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME - Ludwig Karlsson (G/A)

CENTURYLINK THREE STARS:

1) Wade MacLeod (ID)

2) Tom Serratore (ID)

3) Brett Robinson (ID)

Group outings at a Steelheads game are a great way to gather friends, colleagues, or co-workers for a fun night out in downtown Boise. Ticket prices are discounted and you can get a Pepsi, Double-R Ranch Hot Dog, and bag of chips with each ticket. Contact the Steelheads front office at 208.383.0080 or log on to www.idahosteelheads.com for more information.

Check out the Idaho Steelheads Statistics

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