The Steelheads played their 20th game of a 72-game season Friday night at CenturyLink Arena. It’s a good time to check the team’s progress as the calendar turns from November to December.

HOME RECORD

Idaho’s best achievement is the way it has protected its home ice.

The Steelheads are 10-2-1 at home after Friday’s 4-2 win over the Colorado Eagles. The record is tops in the ECHL, and a stark contrast to last season when Idaho finished with a 15-18-3 regular-season home record.

“It’s huge,” said Steelheads defenseman Matt Case, who played 48 games with Idaho last season. “It’s a big boost having the fans behind us and we’re getting a lot of energy to go out there and play hard for them.”

Idaho, which plays only three home games in December, is 13-5-2 overall. Alaska (15-5-0) defeated Bakersfield on Friday night to stay atop the Mountain Division. The Steelheads are in second place, two points behind the Aces.

“We’re having fun with it, and we’re just going to keep going,” Case said.

PROTECTING THE LEAD

Idaho improved to 10-0-0-0 when leading after the first period and 9-0-0-1 when leading after the second.

“It’s very important that once you get that lead you hold on to it,” Case said. “We’ve been able to hold on to our leads, so it’s been helpful for us to get out in front first.”

SCORING

Putting pucks in the net hasn’t been an issue for Idaho. The Steelheads have scored 80 goals this season, second only to Colorado.

The Eagles are five goals ahead of Idaho coming into Saturday’s game, which will close out a three-game homestand.

“I think the best thing is we’re doing it the right way,” said rookie forward Austin Smith, who had two goals Friday. “To hold Colorado to two goals and outscore them two straight nights is even more impressive. We’re going about it the right way.”

Kael Mouillierat moved into third place in the league with his 13th goal Friday. Smith has nine goals in seven fewer games than Mouillierat, so he could make a run at being the team’s leading goal-scorer before too long. Pending call-ups, it could be a friendly competition to watch.

“Yeah, I think so. We’re pretty good buddies off the ice,” Smith said. “We encourage each other, more than anything. We’re just having fun with it. … It’s kind of our role and we enjoy doing it, so we kind of feed off of each other, I guess.”

When it comes to overall point production, Mouillierat (13 goals, 13 assists) is tied with linemate Justin Dowling (seven goals, 19 assists) for the team lead. They are tied for fifth in the league in points scored.

GOALTENDING

Rookie Josh Robinson has been perhaps the team’s most pleasant surprise. Somewhat of an unknown commodity, the Michigan Tech product has yet to lose a game in regulation.

Robinson came into Friday tied for the third-best save percentage in the league (.926). He improved to 9-0-1 after stopping 35-of-37 shots in Friday’s victory.

If Tyler Beskorowany (4-5-1) can revert to the form he showed with Idaho in 2011, when he earned ECHL goalie of the month honors, the Steelheads would have one of the best one-two tandems in the league.

“Hopefully, watching Robo and how hard he competes will rub off on him,” coach Brad Ralph said. “Maybe it will even anger Tyler a little bit. … He’s going to play (Saturday) and we expect him to have a good game and give us a chance to win.”

Chris Langrill: 377-6424