ECHL Idaho Steelheads

Steelheads Grab a Point in 6-5 Overtime Loss vs. Grizzlies

February 10, 2024 - ECHL (ECHL)
Idaho Steelheads News Release


BOISE, ID - The Idaho Steelheads (30-13-2-1, 63pts) fell to the Utah Grizzlies (21-24-1-0, 43pts) Saturday night by a final score of 6-5 in overtime in front of 5,163 fans at the Idaho Central Arena. It was the 24th sellout in the 25th home game including the 22nd consecutive. Idaho will be on the road for the next six games beginning next Wednesday in Rapid City for a School Day Game at 10:35 a.m.

Idaho trailed Utah 3-2 after the opening 20 minutes of play despite outshooting the Grizzlies 17-7. Brandon Cutler (21st) opened the scoring three minutes into the game making it 1-0 Utah. Just 4:52 later Idaho tied the game with a score from Jordan Kawaguchi (1st). Trevor Zins at the left point fed Matt Register across the blue line. From there Register fed Kawaguchi in the high slot where he sent a shot through the wickets of Dante Giannuzzi. At 15:12 Adam Berg (8th) gave Utah back the lead. With 2:07 left in the frame Demetrios Koumontzis (4th) finished on a beautiful setup to tie the score at 2-2. Patrick Kudla from the blueline slid the puck in between his feet for Jade Miller racing in. Miller fed Koumontzis in the right circle for a one-timer that dribbled past Giannuzzi. Just 64 seconds later Brett Stapley (13th) gave the Grizzlies a 3-2 lead heading into the intermission.

Steelheads and Grizzlies were all tied at 4-4 through 40 minutes of work with Idaho outshooting Utah 17-10 in the middle frame. Aaron Aragon (10th) increased the Grizzlies lead to 4-2 just 2:54 into the stanza but from there Idaho would score two unanswered. A.J. White (16th) found the back of the net on the game's first power-play with a shot from the high slot setup by Francesco Arcuri and Will Merchant. Then with just 3:10 left in the period Romain Rodzinski (3rd) fired a one-timer upstairs from the point setup by Arcuri.

Idaho took their first lead of the game at 4:48 of the third period as Ty Pelton-Byce (12th) scored on the power-play making it 5-4. Ben Zloty from the point slid the puck below the left circle to Wade Murphy. Murphy then fed Pelton-Byce in the right circle where he sent a shot upstairs over Giannuzzi. Brett Stapley (14th) got his second goal of the night at 11:59 of the final frame to eventually force overtime.

4:46 into the extra session the Steelheads were assessed a two-minute minor penalty. With 43.5 seconds left in overtime Nathan Burke (15th) from the left circle sent a shot far side into the back of the net to hand Utah the 6-5 win.

Bryan Thomson made four saves on eight shots and was pulled after 22:54. Jared Moe made 18 saves on 20 shots in 43:23 of relief. Dante Giannuzzi turned aside 45 of the 50 shots he faced in the win.

BOX SCORE

ICCU Three Stars

1) Brett Stapley (UTA, 2-1-3, +3, 8 shots)

2) Nathan Burke (UTA, 1-1-2, +1, 2 shots)

3) Jordan Kawaguchi (IDH, 1-0-1, +2, 5 shots)

GAME NOTES

- Idaho went 2-for-2 on the power-play while Utah was 1-for-3.

- Idaho outshot Utah 50-28.

- Idaho is 132-64-26 all-time vs. Utah and 70-31-13 in Boise.

- Sam Sternschein (IR), Lynden McCallum (IR), Cooper Jones (IR), Willie Knierim (DNP), and Bailey Conger (DNP) did not dress for Idaho.

- Ty Pelton-Byce increased his point streak to a career long eight games with a power-play goal which was his 100th career ECHL point.

- Matt Register extended his point streak to four games with an assist.

- Wade Murphy extended his point streak to nine games with an assist.

- A.J. White scored his 10th power-play goal of the season in his 500th career ECHL game.

- Jordan Kawaguchi scored his first goal of the season in his fourth game.

- Patrick Kudla tallied an assist in his 100th game as a Steelhead.

- Francesco Arcuri tallied two assists.

Stay up to date with all things Steelheads on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Watch all Steelheads home games on FloHockey and KTVB 24/7 (Channel 7.2) and listen on the Steelheads flagship station 95.3 FM KTIK "The Ticket".

Check out the Idaho Steelheads Statistics



ECHL Stories from February 10, 2024


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