3 Takeaways From March 5 Action In The ECHL

Wednesday saw six games on the ECHL schedule. Here are three takeaways from the action.

Call Him Brilliant Ben

The Idaho Steelheads went to Cable Dahmer Arena and came away with a convincing 5-0 win over the Kansas City Mavericks.

Ben Kraws was brilliant in net for the Steelheads Wednesday night, stopping all 27 shots he faced for his second career shutout.

Idaho led 2-0 after the opening 20 minutes, taking an early two-goal advantage. Demetrios Koumontzis scored his fourth of the year 70 seconds into the contest from Jason Horvath and Pito Walton.

From the right wall, Walton played the puck across the zone for Horvath, who fed Koumontzis in the high slot. From there, he sent a wrist shot into the top right corner.

Just 77 seconds later Kaleb Pearson stretched the lead to 2-0 from Ty Pelton-Byce and Francesco Arcuri. Arcuri Started the play from behind the net and fed Pelton-Byce in the right circle. Pelton-Byce found Pearson in the high slot for a one-timer and a 2-0 advantage.

The Steelheads scored three goals in the late half of the second period, taking a 5-0 lead into the second intermission.

Pearson scored his second goal of the night and fourth of the season from Ryan Gagnon and Connor Punnett at 10:17 of the frame, stretching the lead to 3-0.

From the center point, Gagnon shot the puck to the net. Pearson deflected it through the high slot. Then 4:23 later, A.J. White tipped the puck into the net at the cage on a point shot from Matt Register for his 10th goal of the season, making the score 4-0 with 5:20 to play in the period.

With 2:28 remaining in the middle frame, Arcuri was sprung on a breakaway from Jason Horvath. Arcuri sent a shot from inside the left circle into the top left corner for the 5-0 final.

Jack LaFontaine suffered the loss for the Mavericks. He was pulled after allowing five goals on 19 shots in two periods. Alex Alsanidis made five saves in relief in the third period.

Wichita’s Overtime Woes

Bonus hockey has not been kind to the Wichita Thunder lately. After falling 2-1 in overtime in Toledo against the Walleye Wednesday, the Thunder have dropped four straight games that have gone to the extra session and are 6-6 in overtime contests this season.

Wichita goalie Trevor Gorsuch was outstanding, stopping 41 shots, but the Walleye offense was just a bit better on the night.

Carson Bantle opened the scoring for the Walleye with two minutes to go in the first. Wichita was close to killing off a Toledo power play, but Mitchell Lewandowski found Bantle at the top of the crease, and he tipped it in for his 21st tally of the season.

In the second, Bates tied the game at the 9:50 mark. Michal Stinil won a puck battle near the crease, circled the net and found Bates near the blue paint to make it 1-1.

The Walleye outshot the Thunder 25-8 in the final 40 minutes. Gorsuch kept his team in a position to take over the game, making several key saves down the stretch, including one on Lewandowski from the slot. But the offense couldn’t score and the game headed into overtime.

Ryan Finnegan was whistled for holding the stick at the tail end of regulation, and The penalty carried over into the extra period. Wichita killed off the power play despite giving up three shots on net.

After a pass skipped out into the neutral zone, Nolan

Moyle beat a Thunder defender to a loose puck. He carried it in and beat Gorsuch at 2:17 to end the contest. Toledo goaltender Carter Gylander, who picked up the victory, earned an assist on the play.

Royals On a Roll

Look out, the Reading Royals are making a charge.

The club stretched its point streak to seven with a 3-1 home victory over the Adirondack Thunder Wednesday night at Santander Arena. Matt Brown led the way by potting two of the three goals.

After a scoreless first period, Brown put Reading up 6:15 into the middle frame, 1-0. Brown extended Reading’s lead 2-0 with his second goal and 16th of the season 5:48 into the third period, earning his second multi-goal game of 2024-25 and fourth of his professional career.

Andre Ghantous cut the deficit in half with his 12th of the year for Adirondack at 17:11 in a come-from-behind effort that fell short after Cam Cook sealed the Reading win with an empty net goal at 19:47, his fifth of the season.

With the win, Reading improved their point streak to seven games (6-0-1-0) and stretched its record to 24-22-9 overall.