After a less than stellar beginning to the season the Idaho Steelheads head to the Christmas break on a six game winning streak after they finished a three game sweep of ECHL leading Alaska Aces in Boise Friday night. All three games of the series required extra time with Idaho bookending a 3-2 overtime victory Thursday night with 4-3 shootout victories on Wednesday and Friday.
Friday’s game began with Idaho striking early as forward Kael Mouillierat scored a highlight reel goal just 3:18 into the game. Mouillierat was left alone behind the Alaska net long enough to flip the puck onto the backhand side of his stick blade and reach around the post to the right of Aces goalie Adam Courchaine and deposit the puck into the top of the net over Courchaine’s shoulder.
Idaho held the 1-0 lead for more than half the period but the defending ECHL champion Aces tied the game with a nice back door goal from Dan Kissel at 14:09. Kissel’s fourteenth goal of the season came after a pass from the right point by defenseman Bryan Miller found its way through a maze of bodies and onto the waiting stick of Kissel standing at the far post.
The evenly played first period ended in a 1-1 tie and with Alaska holding a slight shot advantage at 8-7.
The ice at Century Link Arena seemed to be tilted in favor of the Aces for the better part of the second period. Alaska took a 2-1 lead early in the second as a centering pass by Aces forward Chris Bruton, intended for Zach Harrison in the slot, hit Idaho defenseman Derek Matheson and found its way past sprawling Idaho goalie Jerry Kuhn.
Alaska stretched their lead to 3-1 on the power play at 15:09 as Kissel notched his second of the game as he deflected a slap shot from the point by Miller out of mid air and behind Kuhn. Idaho turned up the pressure for the final four plus minutes of the second period but failed to beat Courchaine and trailed by two goals heading to the final period.
Idaho kept up the dominating pace early in the third and their hard work paid off at 5:16 when Mouillierat scored his second of the game into a nearly open net. After missing on a point blank shot in the slot Mouillierat chased down the rebound and sent the puck back to defenseman Brent Cornelius who fired a slap shot that was saved by Courchaine. The Aces netminder failed to control the rebound and Idaho forward Chad Klassen collected the puck and shoveled it quickly to Mouillierat who deposited it in the net for his fourteenth of the year.
Idaho tied the game less than two minutes later when Klassen found himself a recipient of a rebound of a Chris Hepp slap shot and buried his twelfth of the season.
Alaska took control of the play for the remainder of the period and had by far the better of the scoring chances but Kuhn used every piece of his equipment including his mask to keep pucks from getting behind him. For the third time in three games the teams headed to a 5:00 4 on 4 overtime period.
Alaska had a golden opportunity in overtime as Hepp took a hooking penalty just 1:00 into the overtime and gave Alaska a 4 on 3 man advantage. Kuhn and the Idaho defense held the fort until Hepp was back on the ice with just 2:00 showing on the clock. Neither team made any headway in the final 2:00 and the game headed to a shootout tied 3-3.
Miller was the first shooter off the bench for the Aces and took a low wrist shot to Kuhn’s glove side that Kuhn scooped up to keep Alaska off the board
Aaron Lewadniuk got Idaho off to a good start as his shot initially was stopped by Courchaine but the puck followed the sliding goaltender into the net for a 1-0 shootout advantage.
Aces Captain Brian Swanson tied the shootout as his wrist shot hit the crossbar and bounced straight down behind Kuhn.
Jacob Cepis scored the eventual game winner as his wrist shot beat Courchaine over his glove and gave Idaho the 2-1 advantage after two of the five shootout rounds.
After Kuhn made a pad save on Aces forward Wes Goldie and a glove save on Kissel and after Steelheads forwards Marc Rancourt and Derek LeBlanc failed to score the pressure fell on Aces forward Garry Nunn to keep his team alive. Nunn tried the same shot as Miller but Kuhn kicked out his left pad and kicked the puck out to the blue line to give Idaho the victory.
Idaho will look to continue its season long winning streak when they close out 2011 at home against the Las Vegas Wranglers December 30 and 31 at Century Link arena. Tickets may be purchased for either game at the arena box office or at the Idaho Steelheads website.
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