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ECHL Idaho Steelheads

Game Day Storylines- at Rapid City

December 28, 2016 - ECHL (ECHL)
Idaho Steelheads News Release


Steel Reel

The Steelheads are back from the Christmas break and make their second visit of the season to Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, kicking off a three-game series against the Rapid City Rush on Wednesday night. The Steelheads went into the recess with a 3-2 shootout win over the Allen Americans in Texas, while the Rush split a pair of home games against the Alaska Aces. The Steelheads are fourth in the Mountain Division heading into Wednesday night and the Rush are trying to climb out of the division's bottom spot. Idaho is 2-2-0 this season against the Rush, winning each of the last two meetings.

Idaho fell behind 2-0 in the first period on Friday night in Allen, but battled back to tie the game and force a shootout. Joe Faust's 5-on-3 power play goal late in the first period got the Steelheads on the board, and Travis Ewanyk's power play rebound in the third tied the score. In the shootout, Jefferson Dahl and Kyle Jean both capitalized, while Branden Komm stopped two of three shooters to earn his fourth shootout victory of the season and his third straight win overall.

Still Scoring...

Travis Ewanyk continues to spark the Idaho offense heading into the New Year. Ewanyk's goal on Friday was his team-leading 12th of the season, and his fourth in the past four games. Ewanyk's 12 goals already match his career high in points heading into this season, when he had 12 points with AHL Oklahoma City in 2014, and he's second on the team with four power play goals. Ewanyk had three goals and three assists in Idaho's last three-game series against the Rush in Boise.

Comeback Knack...

Certainly the Steelheads don't want to be playing from behind, but they've done a respectable job of it for much of the season. Friday's win in Allen marked just the second time this season a team has overcome a multi-goal deficit against the Americans and won. The Steelheads are a respectable 6-7-3 this season in games in which they surrender the first goal, and 4-7-1 in games they trail entering the third period. Idaho outshot the Americans 11-3 in the third period on Friday en route to their comeback win.

Wednesday Witch-Hunt...

The Steelheads will hope to overcome their Wednesday night demons in the series opener. The Steelheads have won just once this season on Wednesday night, that win coming against a last-place Norfolk team in November, and have a 1-6-0 record on hump-day. Add an 0-1-0 record on Thursday nights, and the Steelheads would like to improve their performances in series openers, especially on the road.

About the Rush...

All season, the Rush have been a team that has struggled to win despite having a number of strong offensive producers. They've lost some of that scoring punch along the way, with Lindsay Sparks heading to AHL Tucson and the team trading away Brenden Walker, who had three goals and eight points in the first four meetings of the season with the Steelheads. Now even more focus narrows on Josh MacDonald and Ryan Walters, who are handling that scrutiny just fine. Walters has five goals and eight points in his last seven games, as well as three goals and six points this year against Idaho. MacDonald has four goals and six points in his last seven games. The Rush have gotten largely solid goaltending this year from Adam Morrison, sporting a 2.22 goals-against average and a .936 save percentage. Morrison's numbers took a bit of a hit in his last outing when he gave up five goals to the Steelheads. Since then it has been Adin Hill in the nets. Idaho scored six against Hill on December 16th.

Idaho Leaders Rush Leaders

Goals: Ewanyk (12) Goals: MacDonald (13)

Assists: Dahl (21) Assists: Walters (21)

Points: Dahl (30) Points: Walters (31)

Plus/Minus: Bell (+5) Plus/Minus: Cooper/Miglio (+2)

Power Play Goals: Merchant (5) Power Play Goals: MacDonald (3)

Goals-Against Average: Komm (2.47) Goals-Against Average: Morrison (2.22)

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