Boise, ID – In a Saturday night matchup the Victoria Salmon Kings and Idaho Steelheads met in the finale of a three-game set at Qwest Arena. Victoria’s David Shantz started in goal while the Steelheads countered with Richard Bachman.
 
Both Victoria and Idaho sustained early physical play and offensive pressure in the opening period. The Steelheads were the first team to hit the scoreboard at the11:21 mark when a turnover below the goal line in the offensive zone resulted in Steelheads forward Matt McKnight poking the puck to the side of the net where Mathieu Tousignant powered the rubber between David Shantz’ right pad and the post. Tousignant’s goal was his fifth of the year. The Salmon Kings knotted the score just 39 seconds later at the 12:00 mark. Scott Howes picked up a loose puck in the offensive zone and put a nice spin move on the Steelheads defence, going backhand to forehand and putting the puck off Bachman. The bouncing puck was attempted to be cleared, but found the stick of a streaking Adam Taylor who blasted home his fourth goal of the year to tie the score at 1-1. Both goaltenders stood tall in the final half of the first period, as Shantz made big saves on an Evan Barlow partial breakaway, and a cross-crease pass that found and open Ashton Rome, while Bachman stood tall against a tic-tac-toe play that resulted in a tough save against Scott Howes. The Salmon Kings and Steelheads skated into the first intermission in a 1-1 tie.
 
Salmon Kings defenseman Jimmy Sharrow gave Victoria a 2-1 advantage just 2:40 into the middle period when he took a pass from Olivier Latendresse up the right-wing boards and fired a one-timer that found its way over Bachman’s glove into the net. Sharrow’s goal was his second of the season. Just under a minute later, Bachman denied the Salmon Kings’ third goal when he made a nice left-to-right sliding save on a 2-on-1 advantage that resulted in Dirk Southern taking a feed from Chad Painchaud past Steelheads defenseman Cody Lampl and firing a backhand shot into the goaltender’s chest. Victoria, however, would not be denied their 3-1 lead at the 12:50 mark when defenseman Patrick Coulombe put a seemingly harmless shot attempt from the point towards the net and the rubber bounced over several sticks and past a fooled Bachman. Coulombe’s tally was his first of the campaign. The Steelheads would cut their deficit back to one goal on the power play at 16:20 when a bouncing puck in front of the Salmon Kings net found its way behind the goal line to Mark Derlago who fed Tyler Spurgeon in front of Shantz and put his fourth goal of the season past the goaltender’s blocker. The Salmon Kings took their 3-2 advantage into the third period.
 
Derlago pulled the Steelheads even 6:52 into the third period when he controlled the puck off a Tyler Spurgeon faceoff win in the right circle and cut into the slot area and fired a snap shot that beat Shantz blocker side. Derlago’s goal to tie the game at 3-3 was his seventh of the year. Idaho would take a 4-3 lead just 24 seconds later when Ashton Rome took a feed from Tousignant across the length of the blue line and put a shot on net that got past Shantz over his blocker shoulder. Rome’s goal was his eight of the season. Howes would make it a 4-4 score at with 3:45 left in regulation when he skated into the offensive zone through the left faceoff circle and was challenged by two Steelheads defensemen. After losing the puck momentarily, Howes managed to work his way through the defenders, regain control of the rubber, and fire a shot past Bachman for his fourth goal of the campaign. Both teams put strong offensive pressure in the final minutes of the period, but neither could bank the game winner in regulation as the goaltenders stood tall.
 
At the halfway mark of the extra frame, Weston Tardy fired a shot from the right point that bounced high into Shantz’s chest. The Salmon Kings goaltender tried to smother the puck under his stick and blocker, but the puck was poked out by the Steelheads’ Spurgeon and backhanded into an open cage for his fifth goal of the season and game winner. Steelheads 5 Salmon Kings 4.
 
Victoria went 0/5=0.0% on the powerplay, while Idaho went 1/6=16.7%. The Steelheads outshot the Salmon Kings 49-34.
 
The Salmon Kings now return home to face the Ontario Reign for a two-game set with contests on Friday, November 27th, and Saturday, November 28th at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre. Puck drop for both games is at 7:05 p.m. For tickets, call 250-220-7777 or visit www.selectyourtickets.com

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