Winning Streak Ends for Steelheads
December 30, 2011 - ECHL (ECHL)
Idaho Steelheads News Release
(Boise, ID) - The Las Vegas Wranglers scored three goals in the second period, two from Peter MacArthur, to rally past the Idaho Steelheads Friday night, 4-3, in Boise.
Idaho saw its six-game winning streak come to an end despite having a 3-1 lead in the second period.
The Wranglers struck short-handed in the game's opening minutes to take the lead. After Idaho's Jerry Kuhn denied a breakaway attempt from Adam Huxley, Las Vegas's Josh Lunden got free up the left-hand side of the ice with Las Vegas down a man and beat Kuhn to make it 1-0 less than three minutes in.
The score held for most of the first period before Idaho let loose with an offensive flurry late in the frame. First, it was Jacob Cepis with another highlight-reel goal for Idaho. Chad Klassen fired a shot from the top of the right-hand circle over the head of Wrangler goaltender Joe Fallon. The puck caromed back out toward the front of the net off the glass and Cepis was able to bat the puck out of mid-air, baseball-style, past Fallon to tie the game at one.
Less than a minute later, the combo struck again, but this time with the roles reversed. Cepis sprinted the puck down the left-hand side, waiting until the very last second before threading the needle through the crease to Klassen. Klassen tapped the puck in from the top of the crease to give Idaho a one-goal lead at 17:05 of the first. The Steelheads would extend the lead at 19:03 when Kory Scoran's shot from the top of the circles was saved by Fallon, but Klassen deftly tapped the rebound to the right-hand side of the crease to Cepis, who stood all alone for another tap-in goal to make it 3-1 Steelheads.
Idaho's two-goal advantage stood until the midway point of the second period. With the teams skating 4-on-4 with Jamie Fritsch and Marc Rancourt in the penalty box, Las Vegas struck twice in less than a minute. Adam Miller snapped a wrister past Kuhn from the slot and then MacArthur tucked home a rebound to tie the game at 3 at the 9:09 mark of the second. Las Vegas got the eventual game-winning goal from MacArthur at 14:58 of the second from Miller, giving the Wranglers a 4-3 lead.
The Steelheads couldn't generate any offense in the third period as a disciplined Wrangler team held Idaho to five shots on goal in the final frame as neither team found the net in the final twenty minutes.
Kuhn stopped 34 of 38 in net for Idaho (15-13-3) while Joe Fallon saved 19 of 22 for Las Vegas 19-9-4. Both teams came up empty on the power play, with Idaho going 0-6 and Las Vegas going 0-5.
The game was played in front of a strong crowd in Boise, with 4,872 fans inside CenturyLink Arena. Cepis (2 goals, 1 assist) and Klassen (1 goal, 2 assists) each had three points for Idaho.
The same two teams tangle on New Year's even in Boise with the puck dropping at 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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