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Idaho Steelheads

Bobkov steals one as Utah evens the series

April 24, 2015 - ECHL (ECHL)
Idaho Steelheads News Release


Boise, ID "" Igor Bobkov denied 42 of 43 shots and the Idaho Steelheads banged three more prime scoring chances off the post Friday night as the visiting Utah Grizzlies picked up a 4-1 win in front of 3,701 fans at CenturyLink Arena in Boise.

The best-of-seven, first-round playoff series between Idaho and Utah is now tied, two games apiece, with Game 5 coming up Saturday night in Boise.

Utah jumped on Idaho early, scoring less than 90 seconds into the game when Michael Pelech delivered a centering pass from behind the net to Ryan Hayes in the low slot. After a nice deke to force goaltender Olivier Roy to commit, Hayes dumped a backhand into a virtually empty net at 1:20 of the first to put Utah on top. Idaho nearly tied it late in the first on a perfect pass from Colton Beck to Alex Belzile, but Belzile's redirection clanged off the post behind Bobkov and shot out as Utah held on to the 1-0 lead after one period.

Idaho ramped up the pressure in the second but were frustrated by Bobkov and, again, the post. Wade MacLeod and Brett Robinson both got the puck past Bobkov from good scoring areas, only to see the puck bounce harmlessly off the post. Midway through the period, Utah got some good puck luck on a soft shot from the top of the left wing circle, a shot that bounced off an Idaho defender and then Pelech, pinballing past a helpless Roy at 9:27 of the second to make it 2-0 in favor of the Grizzlies. A minute later, Idaho drew back-to-back penalties on Utah's Brenden Walker and Danick Paquette to earn over a minute and a half of 5-on-3 power play time, but came up empty, before Patrick Wellar scored from the slot at 15:16 of the second to put Idaho in a deep, 3-0 hole after two periods.

Early in the third, Idaho had two short-handed rushes but could not convert either. Finally, Idaho broke through midway through the third on Belzile's first of the postseason as he poked home a loose puck that squirted out behind Bobkov off a Gaelan Patterson shot from the high slot at 11:46. The goal was also assisted by Robinson, who has assists in each of the four postseason games for Idaho.

The Steelheads continued to pressure but Bobkov held firm as Idaho out-shot Utah, 30-12, over the final two periods and 43-20 for the game. The Grizzlies added a late, empty-net goal from Walker to wrap up the scoring at 4-1 in favor of Utah.

Both teams went 0-5 on the power play as Idaho's penalty-kill unit has successfully killed off 14 consecutive power-play chances for Utah in the series.

Roy took the loss, allowing three goals on ten shots through two periods before giving way to Chris Rawlings in the third period. Rawlings stopped all six shots he faced, including a dazzling save on a Utah breakaway late in the third period. Bobkov was strong all night, making 42 saves on 43 Idaho shots.

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