Idaho Steelheads face the same playoff deficit that they overcame last year
The Idaho Steelheads never thought their backs would be against the wall against the Tulsa Oilers. Nobody did.
The two teams are nearly identical on paper. Entering Tuesday night, the Oilers (42-24-4-2) had one more win than Idaho (41-25-4-2). During the regular season, each team won five games over 10 meetings and both Games 1 and 2 came down to the final moments, but both concluded with a Tulsa empty-net goal and a 3-1 Oilers win.
On paper, this was supposed to be a great series and Game 3 was supposed to even out the wrinkles. But instead, the Steelheads will enter Wednesday night down three games to none after losing 1-0 on Tuesday night at CenturyLink Arena in Game 3 of the Mountain Division Finals.
The most frustrating part about the loss for the Steelheads was that they lost a game where they did almost everything right.
“The only thing we missed was some finish,” coach Neil Graham said. “I thought we out-chanced them 5-on-5. I thought both special teams were good and didn’t get rewarded. I thought the power play generated some great looks and momentum and didn’t get rewarded, and I thought the penalty kill did a great job, and then they get stung (on a goal) as well. Overall, I thought that was about as good as a team can play and have nothing to show for it.”
But the Steelheads have been here before. Idaho fell behind 3-0 to the Allen Americans in last year’s Mountain Division Semifinals and came back to win the series. Idaho is one of two ECHL teams in the 30-plus-year history of the league to come back from a 3-0 deficit. The other was the Cincinnati Cyclones in 2010.
“There is no magical formula to win four games in a row,” Steelheads captain A.J. White said. “So it’s juts one period, one game at a time.”
The Steelheads collected 23 of the game’s first 33 shots Tuesday. Idaho had chances seemingly all night, including one in the opening minute that was stopped by the right pad of Tulsa goaltender Devin Williams. Soon after, Idaho went on the power play when Roman Ammirato flung the puck over the glass in the Idaho zone, picking up a delay of game penalty. The Steelheads had a flurry of chances on the man advantage, but were unable to capture the early edge. On the night, Idaho finished 0-of-6 on the man advantage.
The lone Tulsa goal came midway through the second when Stephen Perfetto found the back of the net on Tulsa’s second power play chance of the night. The Oilers finished 1-of-3 on the power play. The goal extended Perfetto’s point streak to 10 games and the win extended Tulsa’s winning streak to five, which dates back to when the Oilers faced elimination in Game 6 of the Mountain Division Semifinals against Kansas City.
Williams, who was helped out by the goalpost a few times, finished the night with 35 saves. Steelheads goaltender Tomas Sholl finished with 26 saves on 27 Tulsa shots.
“We need an ugly goal, honestly, to get us going,” White said.