BOISE, Idaho – Philippe Desrosiers made 36 saves, including 14 in the third period, to earn his fifth straight win and backstop the Idaho Steelheads (11-6-4) to a 2-1 victory over the Tulsa Oilers (7-8-6) in front of 3,901 fans at CenturyLink Arena for the Teddy Bear Toss for Tots.
Steve McParland and Jefferson Dahl both scored goals in the first period, with McParland’s tally unleashing the barrage of teddy bears onto the ice. The event set a Steelheads record with 7,023 bears collected.
At 16:45 of the first period, Chris Joyaux had his shot from the right point blocked and Joe Faust quickly sent the puck the other way for a streaking McParland. McParland skated in on the breakaway and slid the puck between the pads of Jake Hildebrand for his ninth goal of the season and a 1-0 Idaho lead.
McParland extended his points streak to five consecutive games, and he now has goals in back-to-back contests.
In the final minute of the first period, Joyaux was sent to the box after hauling down Shane Hanna behind the Oiler net. The Steelheads cashed in on that power play, with Dahl potting the rebound of a Henrik Samuelsson shot for his sixth goal of the year with just four seconds left.
The Steelheads have scored power play goals in five consecutive games.
The Oilers pulled back within one at 4:42 of the third period with Conner Bleackley’s tenth goal of the season, a power play wrister from the top of the left circle that beat Desrosiers over the shoulder. That was as close as the Oilers would come, with Desrosiers making several key stops late in the game on shots from in close by Adam Pleskach and Joey Sides.
Desrosiers improved to 9-1-2 on the season, and 7-0-1 at CenturyLink Arena. Desrosiers’ nine wins are tied for second in the ECHL.
The Steelheads head on the road for a pair of contests against the Utah Grizzlies at Maverik Center, the first of four consecutive contests against the Grizzlies this week. The series begins Monday night, with puck-drop scheduled for 7:05pm MT and the game available on 1350AM KTIK and on ECHLTV.
With Idaho Steelheads release
You must be logged in to post a comment.