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 (44-13-5) held on for a 5-4 win over the Utah Grizzlies (28-27-8) at Qwest Arena tonight, earning Derek Laxdal his 300th win as a professional head coach. Five different players scored for Idaho, who tied the ECHL club record for wins in a season with their 44th. The victory was also the seventh consecutively for the Steelheads, which is a new season high. The Steelheads now have a seven-game winning streak to go along with two previous six-game winning streaks this season.
Kevin DeVergilio scored first to give Idaho a 1-0 lead at 6:03 of the first period. Ashton Rome marched up the right wing, leading a two-on-one, and found DeVergilio in the slot for a one-timer. The goal was DeVergilio’s 16th.
Rome scored at 17:12 when he banged home a Steve Oleksy rebound to give Idaho a 2-0 lead. The goal was Rome’s 17th of the season.
Tyler Spurgeon extended the Idaho lead to 3-0 when he capitalized on a scramble in front of Utah netminder Mitch O’Keefe for his 25th of the season.
At 17:25 of the second period, Ryan Kinasewich sent a point shot through traffic that beat Idaho’s Richard Bachman to put Utah on the board.
At 4:34 of the third period, Matt McKnight took a pass in the slot from Steve Oleksy, and placed a wrist shot quickly behind O’Keefe to give Idaho a 4-1 lead. Rome also assisted on McKnight’s 11th.
At 6:14 of the third period, Brandan Kushniruk skated on the right wing with the Steelheads down a man, turned the corner on Ryan Kinasewich, and scored top-shelf on O’Keefe to give Idaho a 5-1 lead.
Utah answered back with three goals, one coming in the final minute and the goalie pulled, but were unable to work back into a tie. Tom May, Brock Wilson, and James Sixsmith all scored in the final period for Utah, who leaves Qwest Arena after the two-game set empty-handed, missing on all four possible points.
Richard Bachman stopped 20 of 24 in the win, improving to 20-5-3 on the season. O’Keefe stopped 34 of 39 for Utah; he is now 18-12-4.
The Steelheads head on the road for games against the Reign in Ontario on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The Steelheads will play out the regular season home schedule on March 24th, 26th, and 27th when the Victoria Salmon Kings head to Boise.