Our weekly take on five top performers from Friday night in the ECHL.
A hatty and several multi-goal performances highlight this week’s ECHL Friday Five. No time to waste; let’s get right to the action.
Liam Malmquist: Idaho Steelheads
Saturday will be the Idaho Steelheads’ annual Teddy Bear Toss Night, but fans at Idaho Central Arena got some early practice by tossing hats on the ice on Friday.
Idaho scored early and often in their 4-1 victory over the Kelly Cup Champion Trois-Rivieres Lions. Liam Malmquist was the difference by notching the Steelheads’ first hat trick of the season.
After the Steelheads scored within the first minute of the game, Malmquist added to the lead four minutes later. He put home a rebound in front of the crease to give Idaho a 2-0 edge.
Malmquist would add his second tally of the game with just under three seconds remaining in the opening frame, spinning and shooting from the left circle to beat Lions goalie Hunter Jones over the glove hand to give Idaho a 3-0 lead.
Neither team could light the lamp in the second period, and the Lions scored first in the third to cut the deficit to 3-1.
Malmquist completed his hat trick into the empty net at 18:56 for his ninth goal of the season and the game-sealing tally to give the Steelheads a 4-1 win.
Arsenii Sergeev: Rapid City Rush
The Rush goaltender is on a roll this week. The 22-year-old rookie made 38 saves for the second straight night in Rapid City’s 4-1 win over the Tahoe Knight Monsters at Tahoe Blue Event Center.
The Rush trailed 1-0 after 40 minutes but stormed back with four unanswered goals in the third period, and Sergeev took care of the rest.
The contest was scoreless until the middle frame. Tahoe took their first lead of the series on a power play goal late in the second by Adam Pitters. The Rush had killed an earlier 5-on-3 and were just 20 seconds away from getting to even strength before giving up the goal.
Rapid City erased the 1-0 deficit right out of the gates in the third. Rasmus Ekström took a faceoff win from Quinn Olson and wired a shot top-shelf just 19 seconds into the period. Then, Xavier Bernard scored his second goal in two games to give the Rush the lead with 10:35 remaining.
The Rush killed off a penalty later in the third with a one-goal lead, then found their insurance tallies with the empty net. Ryan Chyzowski and Cameron Buhl each scored empty netters to ice a 4-1 game.
Sergeev has stopped 76 of 79 shots in this series for a .962 save percentage and has won three of his last four starts.
Cole Krygier: Savannah Ghost Pirates
Krygier tallied two goals to lead the Savannah Ghost Pirates to a thrilling 4-3 overtime home victory over the South Carolina Stingrays. The win snapped a four-game losing skid for the Ghost Pirates.
The Stingrays scored first at the 3:24 mark of the opening frame, but Krygier tied the score when his shot from the left side found its way through traffic to even the game at 1-1 at 11:12. Nick Granowicz and Keaton Pehrson picked up the assists.
Savannah took its first lead 1:38 into the third period when Krygier exited the penalty box and scored on a breakaway to make it 2-1.
After Savannah made the score 3-1, the Stingrays fought back to tie the game and send it into overtime.
Robert Mastrosimone sealed the win for the Ghost Pirates, scoring 2:32 into the extra frame off a feed from Evan Nause.
Kyle Crnkovic: Wichita Thunder
The Thunder traveled to Tulsa and came away with a 5-4 triumph over the Oilers at the BOK Center. Crnkovic aided the cause with two goals.
The Thunder raced out to a 4-1 lead with three goals in the opening frame. The Oilers battled back but fell short in the second meeting of the season between the longtime rivals.
The first period saw plenty of offensive firepower. After Wichita grabbed a 2-1 lead, Crnkovic made it 3-1 with less than a minute to go in the opening frame. Dickman fished a loose puck free in the corner, found Crnkovic in the right circle and he beat Tulsa netminder Noah Giesbrecht to the far side for his fourth of the campaign.
In the second, Crnkovic tacked on his second of the contest to make it 4-1. After Thunder goalie Matt Davis made a save on one end, Houle fired a long outlet pass to Crnkovic in the neutral zone. He came in up the left wing and fired a shot through Giesbrecht.
The Oilers fought desperately to pull within 4-3, but Donavan Houle got the lead back to two, and Wichita hung on for the 5-4 win.
Quinn Preston: Kalamazoo Wings
The K-Wings scored four unanswered goals and three players had multi-point performances in a 4-3 win over the Bloomington Bison on the road.
Preston had two goals in the victory, which improved Kalamazoo’s record to 6-9-2 for the season. He started the scoring for the K-Wings by redirecting a floater inside the left post to bring the team within one, after the Bison’s two first-period goals at the 47-second and 4:04 marks.
Preston then recorded his first multigoal game of the season, catching the netminder out of position and firing a shot inside the left post for a game-tying power-play goal at the 18:48 mark of the second.
As is typical when these two teams meet, the game got scrappy with a season-high combined 60 minutes of penalties that included three fighting majors and an ejection for each team.