BOISE, ID – The Idaho Steelheads (6-6-1-0) fell to the Utah Grizzlies (5-5-2-0) by a score of 4-3 on Saturday night inside Idaho Central Arena. The teams will finish their three-in-three series on Sunday with puck drop set for 4:10 p.m. MT from Idaho Central Arena.
The Grizzlies opened the scoring 7:50 into the first period as Stepan Timofeyev drove down the left side and put a one-timer past Steelheads goaltender Jake Barczewski for a power play goal. Utah extended the lead to 2-0 after Tyler Gratton buried a pass from Reed Lebster at 15:09 of the frame for his third goal of the season.
In the middle frame, Gratton notched a power play goal eight minutes in for his second goal of the game to give Utah a 3-0 advantage. Idaho finally got on the board at 17:52 in the second period after Kaleb Pearson beat Kyle Keyser over the glove from the right circle. Utah found a last-second response however as Lebster scored on a back door feed from Griffin Ness to restore Utah’s three-goal lead with just four seconds to go in the frame.
In the third period Idaho mounted a fierce charge. First, Brendan Hoffman scored an unassisted goal at 8:32 after flying down the left wing and beating Keyser through the five hole to get Idaho within two. Then, Francesco Arcuri scored a near carbon-copy goal when he beat Keyser short side from the same spot just under two minutes later.
Despite the effort, the Steelheads’ comeback bid fell short, as Utah held on in the final moments for the 4-3 victory.
Idaho’s Jake Barczewski made 14 saves on 18 shots in the loss, while Utah’s Kyle Keyser saved 41 of 44 shots in the win. Idaho’s power play was 0-for-3, while Utah went 2-for-4 on their man advantage.
ICCU THREE STARS
- Tyler Gratton (UTA, 2-0-2, +1, 4 shots)
- Kyle Keyser (UTA, 41 saves, win)
- Charlie Dodero (IDH, 0-2-2, +2, 3 shots)
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