Idaho Steelheads fight off elimination again, force Game 6

UPDATE: The Idaho Steelheads beat Tulsa 3-1 on Friday night at CenturyLink Arena to stay alive in the ECHL playoff series. Tulsa leads 3-2 with Game 6 set for Sunday in Tulsa.

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The Idaho Steelheads offense was due for an explosion, and that’s exactly what it got in the first period of Wednesday night’s win-or-go-home Game 4.

Idaho was shut out in Game 3 on Tuesday night and faced elimination Wednesday, down three games to none, with the threat of being swept out of the Kelly Cup Playoffs for the second year in a row.

The Steelheads beat the Tulsa Oilers 4-2, forcing a Game 5 on Friday night in Downtown Boise. If necessary, Games 6 and 7 will take place in Tulsa. The Steelheads need to win all three to advance to the next round. Only two teams in ECHL history have come back from a 3-0 deficit, but the Steelheads are one of them.

“At the end of the day, yesterday is ancient history,” Steelheads coach Neil Graham said. “We weren’t in bad spots, they just weren’t coming to us. We stayed with it, we stayed poised, and some pucks came to us in the right areas.”

The offense desperately needed something to go its way, and it was the Idaho captain, A.J. White, who delivered the game’s first blow 2 minutes into the game off a rebound from a Kale Kessy shot. The goal sparked a first-period offensive onslaught that featured three goals in the first 11 minutes after the Steelheads were held to two goals over the previous nine periods.

White’s line was credited with the first two goals while Idaho collected the first nine shots of the game and outshot Tulsa 18-5 in the first period.

“It helps that we all saw that we can score some goals, more than one in a game,” White said. “Hopefully that transcends into Friday’s game.”

Midway through the period, Reid Petrik smoked a one-timer over the shoulder of Devin Williams from the high slot on a Kessy feed and, moments later, Steve McParland put Idaho up 3-0 when he buried his second goal of the playoffs from just outside the blue paint.

“That is how you draw it up right there,” McParland said. “We wanted to come out and get pucks to the net.”

Mitch Morez added Idaho’s fourth goal midway through the third period when he found himself alone in front of a helpless Williams, beating him glove side. The goal put Idaho up three with 14 minutes to go, but the goal was quickly answered by Tulsa’s Charlie Sampair, who scored seconds later, making it 4-2.

Idaho was forced to kill a 6-on-4 in the game’s final moments when Tulsa pulled its goalie while two Steelheads watched from the penalty box. But the defense never broke and Steelheads goaltender Tomas Sholl came up with 33 saves on 35 shots.

“The momentum is shift to shift at this point,” Graham said. “And then you hope for period to period and then hope for game to game.”

This story was originally published May 2, 2019 at 12:34 AM.