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ECHL Idaho Steelheads

Beck Beats Eagles in OT

March 20, 2015 - ECHL (ECHL)
Idaho Steelheads News Release


Boise, ID - Colton Beck buried a shot off the rush from the high slot 35 seconds into overtime Friday night as the Idaho Steelheads edged the Colorado Eagles, 4-3, in front of 4,224 fans at CenturyLink Arena in Boise. The OT winner came after Colorado scored twice in the final 100 seconds of regulation to tie the game.

With the win, Idaho (42-17-5, 89 points) extended its Pacific-Division lead over the Eagles (39-21-4, 82 points) to seven points with eight games left in the regular season. The two teams meet again on Saturday in Boise.

Neither team scored in a first period that included just ten total shots on net, but the scoring started quickly in the second. Just a minute into the period, Colorado's Trent Daavatilla lost his stick in the defensive zone. The Eagles created a loose puck and appeared primed to break out of the zone, but the puck hit the discarded stick. Steve Quailer - playing for the first time since January 2 - quickly got the unexpected loose puck to Alex Belzile, who connected for his 24th goal of the season from the left-wing circle at the 1:04 mark of the second to give Idaho the lead.

Colorado tied the game at 5:17 when Kyle Kraemer gloved down a failed Idaho clearing attempt and ripped home a shot from the right-wing circle to even the tallies at one apiece. Shortly thereafter, Idaho netted a pair of goals in less than thirty seconds to take the lead back. First, at 9:48, James Livingston and Brett Robinson won battles to get the puck out front to Wade MacLeod. MacLeod tucked home his team-leading 32nd goal of the season from the top of the crease to break the tie. Then, just 29 seconds later, Jefferson Dahl won a race to a loose puck along the right-wing wall and found Beck all alone in the low slot. Beck received the pass and netted his 16th of the season to make it 3-1.

For much of the third, Idaho kept Colorado at arm's length with the two-goal lead. But a late Idaho penalty gave Colorado a power play with two minutes to go in regulation. The Eagles pulled their goaltender for a second extra attacker, making it a de-facto 6-on-4 power play, and Brock Nixon's shot from the center point found its way through traffic and off the right post and in at 18:35 to make it a one-goal game. Less than a minute later, Vitalijs Pavlovs was able to jab a loose puck near the crease through Chris Rawlings to tie the game, 3-3, at the 19:21 mark of the third, forcing overtime.

In overtime, Colorado nearly had an early two-on-one rush, but the lead pass was too far for Kraemer to control. William Wrenn picked up the loose puck, got it up the wall to Beck, who skated in the right-wing side. As teammates joined him in the zone, Beck cut across the top of the right circle to the slot where he gunned home his second of the night, 17th of the season, just 35 seconds into overtime to secure the all-important second point in the standings.

Rawlings picked up his fifth win against no defeats with 20 saves on 23 shots. Aaron Crandall took the loss, surrendering four goals on 25 shots. Each team had one power play in a whistle-free game, Idaho going 0-1 while Colorado was 1-1.

Beck and Patrick Cullity (two assists) each had multi-point nights for the Steelheads.

The two teams play another pivotal game Saturday, March 21, on another Project Filter Team Post-Game Autograph Session. Game time is 7:10 PM each night. Tickets are available online at www.idahosteelheads.com or by calling 208-331-8497.

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ECHL Stories from March 20, 2015


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