WEST VALLEY, Utah —CJ Eick scored twice for Utah and Kevin Boyle made 29 saves in his professional debut, as the Grizzlies (1-0-0) topped the Idaho Steelheads (0-1-0) 4-1 at Maverik Center on opening night of the ECHL season.
Eick scored the Grizzlies’ first goal midway through the second period and then added an insurance goal midway through the third. The Steelheads made it a one-goal game at 3:16 of the third period on Joe Faust’s first goal as a Steelhead, a power play goal making it a 2-1 game. That’s as close as Idaho would get.
Faust’s goal gave the Steelheads life early in the third. With a power play chance the Steelheads swarmed Boyle’s crease, and a shot from rookie defenseman Travis Walsh went wide of the net. Joe Basaraba found the rebound off the end-board, and rather than jam it on goal, chose to slide it across to the far side of the ice where Faust snuck down untouched to wrist the puck into an open net.
Eick opened the scoring at 11:30 of the second period on a broken play, when Jon Puskar jumped out of the penalty box to join what became a 4-on-2 rush into the Steelheads zone. Idaho forward Anthony Luciani broke up that rush, colliding with two Grizzlies but with the crash leaving a loose puck between the circles. Eick found it, backhanded it, and gave Utah a 1-0 lead when the puck beat rookie Steelheads goalie Landon Bow to the blocker side.
Just 2:39 later, Puskar added to the lead when he found a rebound to the side of Bow from a Mike Banwell shot, steering it around Bow for a 2-0 lead for Utah.
After Faust drew Idaho closer, the Steelheads had momentum in a period in which they outshot Utah 18-11. But another broken play landed the puck onto Eick’s stick between the circles for his second of the game at 13:57 of the third to make it 3-1. Jordan Samuels-Thomas netted a power play marker at 16:21 to cap the scoring.
Bow made 30 saves in his professional debut. Defenseman Charlie Dodero had six shots on goal in his return to the Steelheads.
The Steelheads and Grizzlies are at it again Saturday night at Maverik Center, with puck-drop scheduled for 7:00pm MT. The game is available on ECHLTV and 1350KTIK.
With Idaho Steelheads release
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