Idaho defeats Knight Monsters 5-2

BOISE, ID – The Idaho Steelheads (10-7-1-0, 21 points) defeated the Tahoe Knight Monsters (8-5-1-2, 18 points) by a final score of 5-2 in front of a sellout crowd of 5,235 on Saturday night Fans at Idaho Central Arena, the 10th sellout in 10 home games this season and the 43rd straight regular season sellout. Idaho goes on the road next week for a three-game series against the Trois-Rivières Lions on Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. MT.

Each team took 16 shots in the first period, but Tahoe had a 1-0 lead when Simon Pinard drained a one-timer from the right circle at 7:10.

Idaho scored three goals in 7:31 of the second period and led 3-1 after the second period. Jade Miller (2nd) tied the contest at 1-1 at 10:57 a.m. by deflecting a point throw from Connor Punnett forward. 3:04 later, Punnett (2) gave Idaho the lead at 14:01 with a wrist shot from the left circle on a setup from center by Hank Crone. 88 seconds before the end of the stanza, Nick Canade (3rd) received a pass from Brendan Hoffmann across the center line of the offensive zone and Canade beat Jordan Papirny and increased the score to 3-1. The shots were 19-8 Idaho.

Sloan Stanick made it a one-goal game at 6:24 of the third period. Lynden McCallum (8th) used 3:48 to win the game when a Knight Monsters player tried to clear the puck but his stick broke. McCallum grabbed the puck in the left circle and shot it from his wrist to make it 4-2. On the next face-off, Tahoe pulled ahead of Papirny and Connor MacEachern (10th) scored on the empty net with 2:57 to play to make the final score 5-2.

Tomas Sholl made 38 saves on 40 shots in the win, while Jordan Papirny made 35 saves on 39 shots in the loss.

BOX score

ICCU Three stars
1) Nick Canade (IDH, 1-1-2, +2, 1 shot)
2) Tomas Sholl (IDH, 38 saves)
3) Connor Punnett (IDH, 1-1-2, +2, 5 shots)

GAME NOTES

• Idaho went 0-2 on the power play while Tahoe went 0-3.
• Each team had 40 shots.
• Thomas Caron (DNP), Romain Rodzinski (DNP) and Slava Demin (INJ) did not dress for Idaho.
• Brendan Hoffmann increased his point streak to five games with two assists.
• Lynden McCallum and Connor MacEachern each scored goals in consecutive games.
• Connor Punnett and Nick Canade each finished the game with a goal and an assist.