The boys are back in town! The Idaho Steelheads are back home at Idaho Central Arena for a three-game set against divisional opponent Allen Americans. The Steelheads trail Kansas City in the Mountain Division. The Mavericks hold a six-point lead in the standings race over Idaho. The Steelheads are also sitting third in the western conference, and hold a winning percentage of 0.659 good enough for fifth in the ECHL.
The Oilers hosted the Steelheads this past weekend, Tulsa defeated Idaho 2 out of 3, both final scores being 5-2.
The lone Steelheads win came on Friday night, a 4-2 victory at the BOK Center. Merchant and Erne each picked up two assists in the contest, and Thomson stopped 38 of the 40 Oilers shots he faced.
Saturday night, a 5-2 defeat in northeastern Oklahoma. Knierim and Kudla tied the game late in the second period, but Tulsa had the advantage heading into the third with a late goal. The Oilers then took the lead midway through the third frame and capped it off with an empty netter. Thomson had a solid performance, he stopped 38 of the 42 he faced in the losing effort.
Not one but two empty netters on Sunday night. Just like the night prior, the Oilers defeated the Steelheads 5-2. Idaho trailed by just one heading into the third and was only trailing by a goal after Zloty found twine with under 6 minutes to play. However, Tulsa would gain the upper hand as they scored two empty netters to defeat Idaho.
The Steelheads are 5-3-0 in the season series against Allen, 4-1-0 at home against the Americans. This will be the last time for the 2023-24 regular season campaign these two teams will face off against each other. The last time they faced off, the Steelheads outscored the Amerks 16-5 and swept them back in November. In the first eight games between the clubs, Idaho has outscored Allen 37-27.
Allen sits with 38 points, 4th in the Mountain Division, two points ahead of the Grizzlies, after a three-point weekend in Missouri. They snapped a four-game losing skid on Wednesday against the Mavs, their lone win in the three-game set.
Hank Crone, 2022-23 ECHL MVP, comes into downtown Boise with 42 points (14 Goals, 28 Assists) in 30 games with Allen. He had an 18-game point streak heading into the series against Kansas City; he was held pointless in all three games against the Mountain Division leaders. Colby McAuley, former Steelheads forward leads the Americans with 19 goals on the 23-24 campaign.
Allen has a league-high average of 40.54 shots against, and Idaho, on the other side, leads the league with an average of 37.8 shots per game. Idaho, in the first eight meetings with Allen, has totaled 41 or more shots, an average of 45.88 per game against the Amerks. The Steelheads had a season-high 58 shots amidst a 6-2 win against Allen on November 15.
Puck drop at Idaho Central Arena on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday is set for 7:10 p.m. MST. With a paid subscription, you can tune in to all Steelheads games on FloHockey.
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