BOISE, ID – The Idaho Steelheads (32-21-8-1, 73pts) defeated the Allen Americans (14-38-8-2, 38pts) Saturday night by a final score of 5-2 in front of 5,295 fans at the Idaho Central Arena, the 66th consecutive regular season sell-out crowd. Idaho hits the road for six straight games beginning Wednesday night in Tahoe at 8 p.m. (MT).
Idaho led 3-0 after the first period outshooting Allen 18-13. On the first shot of the game for the Steelheads Kaleb Pearson (7th) sent a shot through the five-hole of Luke Richardson after he was setup by A.J. White in front of the penalty box. Brendan Hoffmann (22nd) stretched the lead to 2-0 with a wrist shot from the left circle off the far post at 9:47 from C.J. Walker and White. Then 73 seconds later on a delayed penalty kill Patrick Kudla (7th) buried a highlight reel tally from Francesco Arcuri and Pearson making it 3-0. From the right point he tip toed into the circle and corralled the puck to his back-hand. Once below the circle he pulled it back to his forward and roofed it upstairs over the shoulder of Richardson.
The Steelheads struck for a pair in the second period taking a 5-0 lead into the locker room through 40 minutes of play with shots even in the frame at 11 a piece. Patrick Kudla (8th) potted his second of the game at 8:08 stretching the lead to 4-0. From behind Idaho cage Kudla started up ice and fed White at the left side of the red line. White drove the puck to the top of the circle and fed Kudla in the high slot for a one-timer. With 2:25 to play in the period Wade Murphy (8th) scored a power-play marker making it 5-0 from Francesco Arcuri and Ty Pelton-Byce.
Allen’s Miko Matikka scored a pair of goals at 14:11 and 18:51 of the third period.
Ben Kraws made 31 saves in the win while Luke Richardson made 31 in the loss.
ICCU Three Stars
1) Patrick Kudla (IDH)
2) Ben Kraws (IDH)
3) Francesco Arcuri (IDH)
You must be logged in to post a comment.