ECHL Colorado Eagles

King Helps Lead Idaho to 7-6 Shootout Win over Colorado

Published on October 18, 2012 under ECHL (ECHL)
Colorado Eagles News Release


LOVELAND, Colo. - The Idaho Steelheads picked up their first win of the season with a 7-6 shootout victory over the Colorado Eagles, led by Tristan King's four-goal evening. The back-and-forth game was the first of a set of three between the teams that will meet again at the Budweiser Events Center on Friday & Saturday.

Idaho struck first just under six minutes into the contest by capitalizing on the fact that Riley Nelson had lost his stick. The Steelheads took advantage by keeping possession in the offensive zone, leading to a King goal from the right hash marks. King then made it 2-0 just over two minutes later with a power-play goal when he back-handed a shot from the left slot.

But Colorado was able to cut that lead in half at 9:23 -- with Idaho on another power play -- when Nelson created a shorthanded chance for defenseman Jason Beatty. The Eagles' captain found the veteran blueliner all alone in the left circle where he was able to beat Tyler Beskorowany with a shot along the ice. It was the second short-handed goal of Beatty's career, and the first since his rookie season with the Lubbock Cotton Kings in 2004-05.

The Eagles then tied the game at 2 at 15:17 of the first with a power-play goal of their own. Gabe Gauthier's shot banked hard off the end boards and back out into the left circle where defenseman Jake Marto pinched down in the zone to punch it home.

Colorado took their first lead of the contest two and a half minutes into the second stanza when Chad Costello beat Beskorowany with another shot along the ice from the right circle. Because the reigning league MVP missed the last third of the 2011-12 season, it was his first goal since March 6 when he registered a hat trick against the Stockton Thunder.

Eight minutes later, while working a delayed penalty call, Idaho got the Eagles scrambling out of position defensively and Andrew Carroll was able to put a puck home to knot the game back up at 3. But Colorado countered at 13:20 when several players crashed the crease, resulting in Sam Carrick poking the puck into his own net as he tried to clear it out of the paint; Jack Combs was credited with the goal.

Idaho tied the game at four two and a half minutes into the third period following a turnover just outside the Eagles' zone when King picked up his third goal of the game by snapping a shot into the top left corner from the high slot. He would net his fourth goal of the evening three minutes later by swatting the puck out of the air above the crossbar, hitting Aaron Schneekloth in the face with his follow-through, but neither infraction was called and the goal stood, putting the Steelheads into the lead, 5-4.

Idaho stretched their lead to 6-4 five minutes later when Kael Mouillierat -- skating in his first game of the season -- poked home a loose puck over Adam Brown at 10:29. But the Eagles kept coming, and at 12:19, Michael Forney picked up his third goal in the past two games when he spun and shot the puck on net from a sharp angle along the left goal line, banking it off the Steelheads' netminder.

And at 16:51, Colorado completed their second comeback of the contest with a power-play marker following a faceoff win in the right circle of the offensive zone. The tally took just five seconds out of the man-advantage when Costello stole the puck behind the net, wrapped around the cage and sent a pass to Combs at the right post for a tap-in to tie the game at 6, which would force overtime.

In the overtime period, the Eagles out-shot the Steelheads 8-2, but the best scoring chance came 1:52 in when David de Kastrozza was awarded a penalty shot. His shot was stopped by Brown, however, and the teams went to a shootout to decide the game's second point in the standings.

In the shootout, Beskorowany stopped four of five Eagles shooters, while two of four Steelheads shooters found the back of the net, with Mouillierat being credited with the winner.

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