Matchup: Utah Grizzlies at Idaho Steelheads, Tuesday and Wednesday, 7 PM at Qwest Arena
Important for different reasons: More than 20 points separate the Grizzlies and the Steelheads in the ECHL’s West Division standings, but both teams have a lot on the line this week. First, Idaho continues its quest to lock down the no. 1 seed in the National Conference, which comes with a first-round bye in the playoffs. Meanwhile, Utah is involved in five-team dogfight to avoid eighth place – the eighth-place team is the only National Conference squad to miss the playoffs.
Beneficial Move: Back in January, Idaho acquired defenseman Dustin Friesen from Utah. The steady blue-liner had 11 points in 32 games with the Grizz at the time of the trade. Since the acquisition, the 27-year-old has blossomed as the team’s top defenseman. In his first 20 games with the team, he matched the 11 points he had in Utah and also carried a plus-10 rating, compared to the minus-3 he had with the Grizzlies.
The Idaho Steelheads (43-13-5) clinched the National Conference Championship for the regular season, securing a bye in the first round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs with a 7-5 win over the Utah Grizzlies (28-26-8) at Qwest Arena tonight; the win was also Idaho’s sixth straight, matching a season-high.
The Utah Grizzlies opened the scoring on the power play when Peter Aston ripped a point-shot top-shelf on Richard Bachman just 1:26 into the game, but the Steelheads countered 90 seconds later when Brendan Milnamow found a puck at the top of the right circle and fired a wrist shot high on Utah’s starting goalie Mitch O’Keefe. Mark Derlago and Tyler Spurgeon earned the assists on Milnamow’s third of the season.
Evan Barlow gave Idaho the lead at 6:37 of the opening period when he ripped a shot from the high slot to beat O’Keefe for his 29th of the season. Kevin DeVergilio and Ashton Rome assisted on the goal, as Idaho would never trail again in the contest.
At 2:05 of the second period, Adam Huxley performed a toe-drag maneuver, and scored top-shelf on O’Keefe for his seventh of the year, assisted by Derlago and Marty Flichel.
1:22 later, Mark Derlago put Idaho on top 4-1 when he took a one-timer pass from Mark McCutcheon and sent the puck home for his 37th of the year.
Utah answered back at 3:57 when Vlady Nikiforov scored his 15th of the year, but Idaho countered at 12:34 when McCutcheon scored his 12th on a wrist shot from an extremely sharp angle below the left circle. The goal was a power play tally, and was assisted by John Swanson and Rome as Idaho took a 5-2 lead. Idaho’s fifth goal marked the end of the night for O’Keefe, as Beau Erickson would enter the net for Utah.
The Grizzlies responded to the goaltending change made by Head Coach Kevin Colley, as they scored twice between the 15:26 and 16:34 marks of the second period with A.J. Perry and Nikiforov netting the goals, respectively, to cut Idaho’s lead to 5-4 after two periods of play.
In the third period, John Swanson regained the two-goal lead for Idaho at 10:36 when he sent a wrist shot from the point through traffic to beat Erickson. The goal was Swanson’s 17th, and was assisted by Derlago and McCutcheon.
With the Steelheads on top 6-4, Peter Aston scored his seventh on a high shot from the slot at 11:44; the goal was his seventh, and cut Idaho’s lead to 6-5.
At 12:58 of the third period, Evan Barlow scored his second of the game and 30th of the season from point-blank to give Idaho a 7-5 lead. Flichel and Spurgeon assisted on the goal.
When time expired, an altercation developed between Steelheads enforcer Adam Huxley and former Steelheads agitator Lance Galbraith, which ended with both receiving five-minute fighting majors.
Richard Bachman earned the win by stopping 25 shots; he is now 19-5-3. Mitch O’Keefe started the game for Utah, and was pulled after 32:34. He surrendered five goals on 15 shots against. Beau Erickson, however, suffers the loss after giving up two goals on 13 shots in 27:26 of work. In hockey, the goalie to surrender the eventual game-winning goal is the one to receive the loss.
The Steelheads and Grizzlies will meet for the final time this season tomorrow night at Qwest Arena. The puck drops at 7:10 PM.