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ECHL Idaho Steelheads

One-Goal Blues Continue for Steelheads

February 24, 2012 - ECHL (ECHL)
Idaho Steelheads News Release


(Boise, ID) - A Ryan Turek third-period goal snapped a 3-3 tie, lifting the Utah Grizzlies to a 4-3 win over the Idaho Steelheads Friday night at CenturyLink Arena. The contest was played in front of 4,396 fans in Boise.

Turek's winner came after an apparent tripping penalty against Utah was not called, allowing the Grizzlies to keep the puck in the Idaho defensive zone. Turek's blast from the top of the right-hand circle at the 3:15 mark of the final frame was his fifth of the season.

With the win, Utah (24-25-5) has caught Idaho (23-26-7) for sixth place in the ECHL Western Conference standings with 53 points.

Utah scored early on a Kory Falite rebound just forty seconds into the contest, but Idaho bounced back on the power play at 13:02 of the first on a nice feed from Derek LeBlanc below the goal line to Chad Nehring on the doorstep. Nehring lifted it under the crossbar over former teammate Jimmy Spratt, his 11th of the season, to tie the game at one. Utah took the lead back late in the first period on Falite's second of the night (7th of the season) on a deflection of a Cody Lampl shot.

After Mitch Wahl made it 3-1 in favor of the Grizzlies early in the second, Idaho went to work. At 12:52 of the second, Tommy Lange netted his fifth of the season, a power-play goal on a rebound, to make it 3-2. Then, just seconds later, Idaho went back on the power play. This time it was LeBlanc capitalizing with a power-play goal, a wicked left-handed wrister from the right-handed circle over Spratt's blocker to tie the game at three at the 14-minute mark of the second period.

That score would hold early into the third period. Idaho's Derek Matheson picked up the puck and circled behind his own net to carry the puck up the ice. A Utah stick appeared to trip Matheson, causing the puck to come loose. Instead of Idaho clearing the zone, Utah was able to hold it in the zone. Seconds later, Turek's blast was in the back of the Idaho net.

The Steelheads had chances to tie the game, including a late bounce off the glass that ricocheted from the half-wall on the left-hand side of the ice and off the goalpost, but Idaho ran out of time, falling for the seventh consecutive time. Six of the losses in that streak - including five straight - have been by one goal.

Former Steelhead Jimmy Spratt got the win for Utah, stopping two Idaho breakaway attempts among his 32 saves. Jerry Kuhn took the loss, stopping 31 shots for the Steelheads.

Idaho's power play continued its resurgence, connecting three times on six attempts against the league's third best penalty kill unit for Utah. Utah's power play was 0-4.

The same two teams match up Saturday night at Boise's CenturyLink Arena with game-time set for 7:10 PM. Tickets are available by calling the CenturyLink Arena box office (208.331.TIXS) or by logging on to www.idahosteelheads.com.

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