The match was a consistent tug-of-war, with Idaho taking the lead after 20 minutes. Just 2:29 into the game, Ty Pelton-Byce redirected a blue line shot that bounced off the backboard, off Swamp Rabbits net-minder Isaiah Saville, and in, giving the Steelheads an early 1-0 lead. However, exactly 3:30 later, Parker Berge, a former Steelhead, was behind on the play and buried a Wade Murphy pass with a wrist shot over Ben Kraws’ shoulder into the net, allowing Idaho to square the game at 1-1 at the 5:59 mark. With 5:05 left in the period, Saville was carted off a net-forward drive and removed from the game with an injury. Mattias Sholl found himself in net for the Swamp Rabbits for the remainder of the game. Idaho hit paydirt moments later on a passing sequence that started on a blue line inclusion. With 2:25 to go, Mason Nevers buried a backdoor pass from Nick Canade, putting the Steelheads ahead 2-1 heading into the break.
Not even two minutes into the second, another former Steelhead joined the party in the form of Wade Murphy. At 1:50, Ryan O’Reilly won a face-off against Murphy, who feigned a fall to the blue line and pulled a wrister past Kraws to tie the game at 2-2. Idaho countered 2:04 later when Chris Dodero potted a rebound on his brother’s shot and bounced out the back window into the slot to put the Steelheads back in the driver’s seat at 3-2 at 3:54. Not to be outdone, Dante Sheriff, skating in his 200e ECHL game, answered 45 seconds later by burying a pass from Josh Atkinson in the slot under the crossbar past Kraws, tying the game again at 3–3 at 4:39 (Atkinson extended his assist streak to six games during the game). More misfortune befell the Swamp Rabbits as 25 seconds later Parker Berge was ejected and rated “five and a game” for boarding, giving the Swamp Rabbits a big penalty kill for five minutes. They emerged unscathed and entered the third place tied for third.
On the power play itself to start the third, the Swamp Rabbits found their first lead of the game. Just 23 seconds into the frame, Keaton Mastrodonato, another former Steelhead, completed a backdoor slam dunk on a blue line pass from Josh Atkinson, giving the Swamp Rabbits a 4-3 lead. Again in a quick sequence, 100 seconds later, Liam Malmquist slipped the puck through Sholl’s legs on a pass from Aidan Hreschuk, tying the game at 4-4 with 2:03 elapsed in the third. No one could find a winner in the remainder of the third, which again led to overtime.
The Swamp Rabbits came away with both points this time, with Keaton Mastrodonato ending it early with his second of the match. At 1:35 of overtime, Josh Atkison took advantage of a broken Steelheads stick and swung it to Hudson Schandor in the slot. Schandor dropped the ball behind his back to Mastrodonato, who fired home the winner to give the Swamp Rabbits a 5-4 win.
Isaiah Saville stopped all but one shot in his start, hitting 14:55 before being removed from the game due to injury (no decision). Mattias Sholl won his first match as a pro in the last 60 minutes, stopping 29 of 32 shots in 46:40 relief time (8-7-2-0).
The Swamp Rabbits conclude their road trip and three-game set with the Steelheads in a rubber match tomorrow night. Puck drop for the final is scheduled for 9:10 PM EST at Idaho Central Arena.
#Swamp #Rabbits #push #streak #win #Steelheads #Pro #Hockey #News