Connor MacEachern gave the sellout crowd at Idaho Central Arena a Black Friday hatty and a Steelheads victory over Tahoe.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters came into Friday’s contest in Idaho leading the Steelheads by one point in the standings. After the game, the positions were reversed.
The Steelheads prevailed 6-2 in front of a sellout crowd of 5,235 fans at the Idaho Central Arena. It was the ninth sellout in nine home games this season and the 42nd straight in the regular season.
Connor MacEachern stole the show for Idaho with a hat trick on Black Friday. Just 39 seconds after the Knight Monsters had taken a 1-0 lead late in the first period, MacEachern tied the score with his seventh of the year.
Ty Pelton-Byce sent a rebound wide off the back wall, where A.J. White collected the puck and fed it to MacEachern in the left circle.
Idaho’s offense began to roll in the second period, scoring four unanswered goals to take a 5-1 lead into the final frame. MacEachern struck again just 46 seconds into the second, when Pelton-Byce fed him with another pass, this time from the left half wall. MacEachern buried a one-timer inside the right circle to give Idaho a 2-1 lead.
Lyndon McCallum increased the lead to 3-1 with his seventh goal of the season at the 10:34 mark on a wrister from the right circle following a 2-on-1.
With less than three minutes left in the middle frame, Brendan Hoffmann made the score 4-1 with a one-timer in the high slot after being set up by Matt Register. It was Hoffmann’s sixth of the season.
Hoffmann got another seconds after the Steelheads went on the penalty-kill. White sprung him on a breakaway for the shorthanded goal and a 5-1 Idaho lead.
Simon Pinard, who rejoined the Knight Monsters from AHL Henderson Wednesday, trimmed Idaho’s lead to 5-2 at 15:21 of the third period.
Five seconds after the Steelheads failed to convert a power-play opportunity, MacEachern got his hat trick, with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle midway through the period.
It would be the final tally of the night for both teams, giving Idaho a convincing 6-2 victory to move their record to 9-7-1. With the loss, Tahoe drops to 8-5-1-2.
Tomas Sholl was outstanding in net for the Steelheads, stopping 26 of 28 shots to earn the win. Jesper Vikman took the loss, saving 35 of 41 shots.
Both teams failed to convert on the power-play, with the Steelheads going 0-for-3 and Tahoe failing on all four of their chances. The Knight Monsters did manage to outshoot Idaho 31-28.