Steelheads to Battle Utah For First Place

The Idaho Steelheads (15-9-3) are 6-1-0 at home this year following three-straight wins against the Kansas City Mavericks.

The Kansas City sweep moves Idaho into second place in the Mountain Division of the ECHL and the first place Utah Grizzlies come to town Friday and Saturday in a battle for first place.

Here is a recap of last weeks three games against the mavericks:

Wednesday, December 12 vs. Kansas City Mavericks: 5-1 W
Shots: Mavericks 31, Steelheads 33
PP: Mavericks 0-for-3, Steelheads 1-for-4

The Steelheads opened their weekend set with a 5-1 win from CenturyLink Arena. Forward Robbie Payne (19:52 1^st) scored his first professional goal to open a 1-0 lead before the Mavericks tied the game early in the second period. Following that goal, Reid Petryk (6:05 2^nd) and Kale Kessy (10:41 2^nd) responded with a pair of goals to take and extend the lead to 3-1. Petryk (PP, 3:03 3^rd) added his second, and Brad McClure (9:53 3^rd) tacked on one more goal to take a 5-1 win. Ryan Faragher (2-2-1) halted 30 of 31 shots in the win.

Friday, December 14 vs. Kansas City Mavericks: 3-0 W
Shots: Mavericks 21, Steelheads 29
PP: Mavericks 0-for-3, Steelheads 2-for-6

The Steelheads earned their third shutout of the season with a 3-0 win from CenturyLink Arena. Robbie Payne (PP, 15:55 1^st) opened the scoring for the second-straight night, taking a 1-0 lead. Reid Petryk (PP, 19:36 1^st; 3:48 2^nd) scored two goals for the second-straight night to pad the lead and help secure the 3-0 win. Ryan Faragher (3-2-1) halted all 21 shots for his first shutout win of the season.

Saturday, December 15 vs. Kansas City Mavericks: 3-2 W
Shots: Mavericks 32, Steelheads 24
PP: Mavericks 1-for-8, Steelheads 0-for-3

The Steelheads edged out the Mavericks in a 3-2 win from CenturyLink Arena. Jeff King (2:26 1^st) snuck in an early goal, and Mitch Moroz (11:44 1^st) followed up with his own tally to take an early 2-0 lead. The Mavericks scored two goals to tie the game, 2-2, before the end of the first period. Alex Dahl (5:08 2^nd) scored the eventual game-winning goal to edge ahead at 3-2. Despite much time spent killing penalties in the second period, the Steelheads held on to take the win. Tomas Sholl (8-4-0) saved 30 of 32 shots in the win.

THIS WEEK…

Friday, December 21 vs. Utah Grizzlies – 7:10 p.m. MT
Saturday, December 22 vs. Utah Grizzlies – 7:10 p.m. MT

The Steelheads finish their nine-game home stand with a two-game weekend against the Utah Grizzlies. The Steelheads and Grizzlies have split their six previous meetings this season with two results going into overtime both favoring the Steelheads. This is the second of three weekends with a head-to-head meeting and the last meeting in the season series until February. The Steelheads own a 95-45-24 record against the Grizzlies in their ECHL series.

STEELHEAD STATS…

- Reid Petryk owns a team-high four-game point streak with seven points (5g, 2a) in that span and scoring over one-third (36.4%) of the team’s goals on the weekend (4-of-11)
- Ryan Faragher had his best week of the season, recording his first shutout since Jan. 12, 2018 against Kalamazoo while also posting a 2-0-0 record with a 0.50 GAA and .981 save percentage in back-to-back games
- The Steelheads have now won 10 of their last 12 games and points in 13 of 16 games since November 7, boasting a 11-3-1-1 record in that time and reaching 2^nd place in the Mountain Division for the second time this season
- The Steelheads have the second-fewest third period goals against in the ECHL (15), only trailing Cincinnati (10), and they’re one of three teams with fewer than 20 goals against in that period

Team Leaders:
GOALS:                       10 – Steve McParland
ASSISTS:                     13 – A.J. White
POINTS:                      22 – Steve McParland
PP GOALS:                  5 – Reid Petryk
SH GOALS:                 1 – McClure/McParland/Parizek/Saucerman/Schempp
GW GOALS:               3 – Brad McClure
PIMS:                           132 – Kale Kessy
PLUS/MINUS:             +9 – Steve McParland
SHOTS:                       98 – Steve McParland
WINS:                          8 – Tomas Sholl
GAA:                           2.06 – Tomas Sholl
SAVE %:                     .932 – Tomas Sholl

Mountain Division Standings:
1. Utah                         15-6-3-1, 34 pts
2. Steelheads               15-9-1-2, 33 pts
3. Tulsa                                    13-8-4-2, 32 pts
4. Rapid City               13-12-2-3, 31 pts
5. Kansas City             14-8-1-1, 30 pts
6. Wichita                    11-11-3-2, 27 pts
7. Allen                                    6-22-0-2, 14 pts