BOISE, ID — Aaron Harstad’s wrist shot from the left point broke a 1-1 tie in the third period and stood to be the game-winner, as the Idaho Steelheads (35-19-7) skated to a 3-1 win over the Rapid City Rush (22-31-8) in front of 4,288 fans on Wednesday night at CenturyLink Arena. The victory was Idaho’s eleventh in the past 14 games and their eighth in 11 meetings this season with the Rush.
At 6:39 of the third period, Andre Morrissette swooped in to pull the puck out of Kyle Jean’s feet on a face-off win and fed it out to the left point. Harstad changed the angle slightly and whipped a wrist shot past Adam Morrison’s glove for a 2-1 Steelheads lead. The goal was Harstad’s fifth of the season and third as a Steelhead, as well as his first with Idaho at 5-on-5. In his last eight games, Harstad has three goals and eight points, along with a plus-8 rating.
The Steelheads defended the lead the rest of the way, with Branden Komm stopping all 11 Rush shots in the third period to earn his fourth consecutive win, improving his record to 15-11-3. The game’s biggest save might not have come from Komm at all, however.
With approximately 1:30 left in regulation and the Rush net empty, Triston Grant received a pass alone in front of the Idaho goal. Grant drifted across the front of the cage from right post to left trying to out-wait Komm, when Joe Faust reached in at the last minute and lifted his stick, without taking a penalty, to negate the Rush scoring chance. Faust had already broken up two separate 2-on-1 rushes earlier in the game.
Shortly after the Faust defensive play, Brian Nugent scored into an empty net for his seventh goal in the last ten games, his ninth of the season for a 3-1 Idaho lead.
The Steelheads opened the scoring on the power play at 16:34 of the second period when Rob Linsmayer walked out of the left-wing corner uncontested to beat Morrison blocker-side with his 13th of the year to make it 1-0. The Rush struck back 50 seconds later with a Logan Nelson deflection, his tenth of the year to tie the score.
Morrissette earned assists on both third period goals. Ryan Walters extended his points streak for Rapid City to four games.
The Steelheads have beaten the Rush in six consecutive meetings and will meet Rapid City again on Friday night for the middle game of the series and the first evening of their “Pink in the Rink” Weekend, sponsored by St. Luke’s. Puck-drop is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. MT.
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