Steelheads down Americans for Graham’s 100th win

BOISE, ID — Jefferson Dahl and Will Merchant both posted three-point nights and six different players found the back of the net as the Idaho Steelheads (19-10-5) opened 2018 with a 6-3 victory over the Allen Americans (18-10-5) in front of a sold-out crowd of 5,010 fans at CenturyLink Arena on Friday night. The win moved Idaho past the Americans in the standings and into third place in the Mountain Division.

The win was the 100th regular season victory for Steelheads Head Coach Neil Graham.

Tied 3-3 entering the third period, the Steelheads scored three unanswered goals to earn their third win in six meetings with Allen this year. Steve McParland put Idaho back in front quickly at 2:19 of the third, driving down the right wing and forcing the puck to the front of the net before it deflected off of defenseman Anthony Calabrese and behind goaltender Jeremy Brodeur for McParland’s team-leading 15th goal of the season. McParland has goals in three straight contests.

At 9:46 of the third, Merchant expanded the lead with his eighth of the season after finishing a 2-on-1 feed from McParland. Charlie Dodero sprung the Steelheads on the rush with a blue line-to-blue line feed, Merchant chipping the McParland pass up under the cross-bar to make it 5-3.

The Steelheads finished the scoring at 14:10 on a power play deflection by Dahl for his 13th goal of the year. Dahl has eight goals and 14 points in his last nine games.

Idaho opened the scoring at 6:46 of the first period on a Henrik Samuelsson deflection of a Zach Bell shot, Samuelsson’s 13th goal. After Eric Roy’s power play marker tied the game 1:16 later, his eighth goal, the Steelheads would take the lead into intermission on a long-range marker from Dodero.

With 1:38 left in the first, Dodero blasted a shot from the neutral zone that beat Brodeur to the blocker for Dodero’s second goal of the season and a 2-1 lead. Idaho had the game’s first eleven shots on goal.

Justin Parizek extended the Steelheads’ lead to 3-1 at 2:13 of the second, scoring his 13th goal of the year and Idaho’s fifth shorthanded goal of the season. Parizek stripped the puck from Joel Chouinard on the forecheck and fed Dahl in the slot. Brodeur made the initial save but Parizek cleaned up the rebound.

The Americans would respond twice to tie the game, with Alex Schoenborn scoring his fifth of the season at 9:50 of the second period and Bryan Moore netting his 12th of the year at 15:30. Gary Steffes, playing his first game of the season after coming out of retirement to join a shorthanded Allen roster, earned assists on both goals.

Philippe Desrosiers stopped 21 of 24 shots to earn his 14th win of the season, including a shorthanded breakaway save on Moore in the second period.

The Steelheads played before their sixth sellout crowd in 19 home games this season. The Steelheads have won four of their last five games at CenturyLink Arena.

The Steelheads and Americans square off again on Saturday night at CenturyLink Arena. Puck-drop is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. MT.