RAPID CITY, SD — Cody Corbett’s first goal as a Steelhead held up as the eventual game-winner and Ryan Faragher made 27 saves in his Steelheads debut, as the Idaho Steelheads (6-3-4) skated to a 4-3 win over the Rapid City Rush (5-7-0) at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center on Wednesday night. The victory gave Idaho back-to-back wins and points in seven of the last eight contests, while the Rush saw a four-game winning streak come to an end.
With a goal and an assist, Corbett posted a multi-point game for the fourth time in the last six games. Brady Brassart collected two assists to extend his points streak to a career-best eight games.
At 14:35 of the second period with the Steelheads already ahead 3-2, Will Merchant held the puck in the right-wing corner and drew all five Rush players in deep before sliding a pass out to the right point for Joe Faust. Faust slid a pass across the blue line for Corbett, who skated uncontested to the top of the left circle before snapping a wrist shot past Rush goaltender Adam Vay for his first of the year.
Ryan Faragher stopped 10 off 11 shots in the third period to close out his first win of the season, only surrendering a rebound goal to Alex Guptill with five seconds left in regulation to close the score to 4-3. Faragher made two stops on Peter Sivak in the final frame, one a wrister from the high slot and another from just above the crease to deny the former ECHL All-Star his first goal of the year.
The Rush opened the scoring at 6:01 of the first period on a 5-on-3 power play goal. A Matt Caito point shot was blocked by Corbin Baldwin, with the ricochet rolling to Dante Salituro at the left circle for his fourth of the season and a 1-0 Rush lead.
The top-ranked Rapid City penalty kill had killed 35 consecutive disadvantages, but the Steelhead power play broke through at 15:38 of the first to tie the game. Corbett fed a pass from high in the zone to the side of the net, where Steve McParland gathered it in and walked above the goal line to beat Vay over the shoulder for his seventh goal of the season, and team-leading fourth on the power play. McParland has six goals in his last seven games.
The Steelheads grabbed their first lead at 5:46 of the second period with a Will Merchant redirect in the high slot of a Corbin Baldwin shot, Merchant’s second goal of the year. Baldwin has five assists in the last seven games.
Just 56 seconds after Merchant’s goal, Justin Parizek scored on another redirect near the same spot, this time tipping a shot from Faust for a 3-1 Idaho lead. Rapid City would answer 41 seconds later with Salituro’s second of the game from a net-mouth scramble.
With the victory, Idaho earned their second win this season when surrendering the first goal. They have earned at least a point in five of eight games when trailing first. Idaho has moved into a tie with Colorado for third place in the Mountain Division.
The Steelheads and Rush meet again on Friday night at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. Puck-drop is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. MT.
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