After raiding the offensive zone for much of the first period, Idaho turned around and made it 1-0 on a point shot from Jack Van Boekel at 17:25. It was a power play conversion with John McCarron committing the period’s lone infraction. Steelheads goaltender Jake Kupsky denied all eight Everblades chances.
The Blades were able to right the ship in the early going of the second period with goals from Nathan Perkovich (1:30) and Joe Pendenza (1:46) to hop in front 2-1. Lukas Kaelble’s assist on the go-ahead marker represented his first point in an Everblades uniform. Colton Kehler (6:56) tied the game at two for Idaho, intercepting Chris McKay in the slot and chipping his shot home unassisted. Parker Gahagen made a myriad of saves in net for the Blades to close out the middle frame at 2-2.
Idaho took their second lead at 3-2 with 11:27 left in the game on a Will Merchant point-blank blast. It was the second time the Steelheads were successful on the power play. The Blades wouldn’t trail for long, as Blake Winiecki (13:02) found a gap along the near side of the net and tapped in the equalizing goal. With just 86 seconds left on the clock, Alex Aleardi took a snipe over the glove hand of Kupsky to put the Everblades ahead for good. The 4-3 outcome was the fourth time in five games that the final score came down to a single goal.
The Everblades and Steelheads will play the second matchup of their three-game series this Friday, April 1 at Hertz Arena.
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