Steelheads Tie ECHL Record With 56th Win, Defeating Grizzlies 3-2

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WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah  – The Idaho Steelheads (56-10-1-2, 115pts) took down the Utah Grizzlies (32-33-4-0, 69pts) by a final score of 3-2 Saturday night at the Maverick Center in front of 6,843 fans. Idaho travels to Rapid City next week for games Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday with puck drop scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

The first shot of the game found the back of the net as Justin Ducharme (14th) drove through the right circle and fired a backhand shot by Garrett Metcalf near side with assists going to Owen Headrick and Patrick Kudla 64 seconds into the affair. Utah grabbed a pair of goals moments later in a 87 second stretch to take a 2-1 lead. First it was Dylan Fitze (17th) with a shot from the top of the left circle beating Dylan Wells near side and then at 6:43 Jordan Martel (17th) from the right circle with a shot beating Wells far side. Utah led 2-1 after the opening 20 minutes of play with shots favoring Idaho 12-8.

Jade Miller (14th) tied the game at 2-2 midway through the second period with a deflection at the top of the crease on an initial right point shot from Headrick. With play at four on four inside four minutes left in the stanza Nick Canade fed Ryan Dmowski (29th) at the center circle. From there Dmowski cut to the left circle flipped the puck to himself at the dot and lasered a wrist shot over the glove of Metcalf making it 3-2 Idaho with 3:19 remaining. Idaho led 3-2 after 40 minutes of play despite being outshot 13-10 in the frame.

Despite outshooting the Grizzlies 15-7 in the middle frame Idaho couldn’t crack the code of Trent Miner who turned aside all 28 shots he faced in the first 40 minutes of work.

Idaho outshot Utah 10-7 in the final period and we’re able to hold off the Grizzlies prevailing by a final score of 3-2.

After allowing two goals on the first five shots he faced, Dylan Wells made 23 consecutive stops making 26 on 28 in the victory. Garrett Metcalf received the loss turning aside 29 of the 32 he saw.

With Idaho Steelheads release

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