Fast Start Propels Idaho Past Las Vegas
December 8, 2012 - ECHL (ECHL)
Idaho Steelheads News Release
Las Vegas, NV - Tristan King netted a pair of first-period power play goals as the Idaho Steelheads raced out to a four-goal lead Friday night before holding on for a 6-3 win over the Las Vegas Wranglers at the Orleans Arena.
Idaho improves to 15-5-2 (32 points) on the season with its fourth consecutive victory.
The Steelheads shot out of the gates with a three-goal first period to take command. First, on the power play, King took a nice centering feed from Justin Dowling behind the net and ripped home his seventh of the season on the one-timer at 8:01 of the period. Sam Carrick also picked up an assist. Midway through the period, Idaho went on the penalty kill but a Gord Baldwin pass off the left-wing glass triggered a short-handed breakaway for David deKastrozza and he cashed in at 11:15 for a 2-0 Idaho lead. The lead would grow at 15:42 on the power play when Baldwin's shot from the blue line between the circles was re-directed by King past Fallon to make it 3-0.
The lead would continue to balloon early in the second when Austin Smith feathered a pass from the bottom of the left-hand circle onto the tape of Adrian Foster at the bottom of the right-hand circle. Foster rifled home his ninth of the campaign at 4:34 to make it 4-0. Las Vegas would temporarily cut into Idaho's lead with a Chris Francis power play goal at 11:38 of the second, but Idaho would get the goal back when Smith scored his tenth - in just 13 ECHL games - on the power play to make it 5-1 Steelheads after two.
At that point, the Steelheads had converted seven consecutive power-play opportunities into goals.
In the third, Las Vegas got goals from Eric Lampe and Geoff Paukovich to cut Idaho's lead to 5-3, but the Steelheads were able to button things down over the final six minutes to secure the victory. Dowling's empty-netter at 18:52 completed his three-point night as well as the scoring at 6-3 in favor of the Steelheads. Idaho did come up empty on a third-period power play to snap the consecutive power-play-goal streak at seven.
Smith extended his point streak to seven straight games with a goal and assist. Dowling now has points in five consecutive contests for Idaho.
Josh Robinson picked up his tenth win of his rookie campaign with 30 saves on 33 shots. Joe Fallon took the loss, stopping 22 of 27 shots before being pulled in favor of Mitch O'Keefe in the final frame. Idaho was 3-4 on the power play, Las Vegas was 1-10.
Idaho plays at Ontario Saturday night at 6 PM (Pacific) and then again on Sunday at 3 PM (Pacific).
The Steelheads return home on Wednesday, December 12, to host the Alaska Aces. Tickets are available by calling the CenturyLink Arena box office at 208.331.8497 or by going online at www.idahosteelheads.com.
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