The Tahoe Knight Monsters took on the Idaho Steelheads last night. Puck drop was at 7:30 PM. The game was at the Tahoe Blue Events Center. It was the fourth game of the season. The Tahoe Knight Monsters are the Vegas Golden Knights ECHL affiliate. They were coming off of a 3-1 victory over the Idaho Steelheads the night before. The Tahoe Knight Monsters had a record of 2-0-1 going into the game. They were undefeated in regulation. They were in 16th place in the ECHL. They were 8th in the Western Conference and 5th in the Mountain Division. The Idaho Steelheads are the ECHL affiliate of the Dallas Stars. The Steelheads had played five games. The Steelheads were coming off of a 1-3 loss to the Tahoe Knight Monsters. The Steelheads had a record of 3-2-0 going into the game. The Steelheads were in 11th place in the ECHL. They were in 5th place in the Western Conference and 3rd place in the Mountain Division.
The Idaho Steelheads played more games. The Steelheads had more wins. The Tahoe Knight Monsters had a better win percentage. The Steelheads scored10 more goals. The Steelheads allowed 9 more goals. The Steelheads had the better goal differential. The Steelheads had more points. The Knight Monsters had 49 penalty minutes. The Steelheads had 63 penalty minutes.
#31 Justin Robbins got the start in net for the Tahoe Knight Monsters. It was his first start of the season. It was also his first ever pro hockey game. #35 Tomas Sholl got the start in net for the Idaho Steelheads. It was his first start of the season as well.
Two minutes into the game #48 Anthony Collins pf the Tahoe Knight Monsters received a penalty for tripping. Thirty seconds later, #23 Jake Johnson of the Knight Monsters received a penalty for an illegal check to the head. That penalty gave the Idaho Steelheads a 5-on-3 powerplay less than three minutes into the game. Four minutes into the game the Idaho Steelheads took the lead on a goal from #19 Lynden McCallum. His goal was assisted by #17 Ty Pelton-Bryce and #11 Thomas Caron. A few quick passes down low lead to a wide open net for McCallum to score. This goal gave the Steelheads a 1-0 lead.
Less than a minute later, the Steelheads scored their second goal of the night. The goal was scored by #8 Justin Ertel and assisted by #9 Brendan Hoffmann and #29 Connor MacEachern. The Knight Monsters couldn’t get the puck out of their zone. The Steelheads forced a turn over behind the net. They got the puck in front for a shot that went in. This goal made it 2-0 Steelheads.
The Steelheads scored again seven minutes into the game. #10 Romain Rodzinski scored the goal with #18 A.J. White and #43 Matt Register getting the assists. Rodzinski scored on a shot from around the faceoff dot on the left of Robbins. The lack of pressure of the defense of the Knight Monsters lead to this goal. This goal gave the Steelheads a three goal lead.
Twelve minutes into the game, the Steelheads expanded their lead with a goal from #9 Brendan Hoffmann. His goal was assisted by #8 Justin Ertel and #19 Lynden McCallum. The puck was passed in front of the net. The defender could not control the puck. Hoffmann got the puck and scored. The Knight Monsters had three players below the goal line watching the puck. This left multiple Steelheads players open. If Hoffmann didn’t score on the initial shot there were plenty of steelheads players that would have gotten the rebound first before any of the Knight Monsters players. This goal gave the Steelheads a four goal lead.
Thirteen seconds after the last Steelheads goal, #43 Matt Register of the Steelheads received a penalty for slashing. With just over seven minutes left in the first period, #46 Samuel Mayer of the Knight Monsters was injured and had to be stretchered off the ice. I did not have a good angle of what happened. He was holding his knee and there was a puddle of blood. After Mayer was off the ice, both teams went to their locker rooms. The second intermission took place with seven minutes and five seconds left in the first period. The rest of the first period was played after the intermission. Then there was a short break and the second period started.
The score was 4-0 Idaho Steelheads after the first period.
Less than two minutes into the second period, #48 Anthony Collins of the Tahoe Knight Monsters received a penalty for boarding. Just under four minutes into the second period, #15 C.J. Walker received a penalty for hooking. Five minutes into the second period, #23 Jake Johnson of the Knight Monsters received a penalty for tripping. Six minutes into the second period, #17 Ty Pelton-Byce scored on the powerplay for the Steelheads. His goal was assisted by #19 Lynden McCallum and #11 Thomas Caron. Th puck bounced around in front of the net before it was put in by Pelton-Byce. This goal gave the Steelheads a five goal lead.
Seven Minutes into the game, the Knight Monsters got on the board. #15 Jake McGrew scored the goal. #96 Brennan Kapcheck and #13 Simon Pinard got the assists. Kapcheck entered the offensive zone with the puck. He passed it to McGrew. McGrew shot from the left side of the goalie went in. This goal cut the Steelheads lead back down to four goals.
With under two minutes left in the second period, #11 Thomas Caron of the Steelheads received a penalty for hooking. The score was 1-5 Steelheads after the second period.
Seven minutes into the third period, the Steelheads scored again. #67 Hank Crone scored the goal with #11 Thomas Caron and #2 Trevor Zins getting the assists. Crone was able to get open in the neutral zone. He turned that into time and space in the offensive zone with the puck. His shot went right over the shoulder of Robbins. This goal gave the steelheads a five goal lead.
Nine minutes into the third period, #23 Jake Johnson of the Tahoe Knight Monsters received a penalty for fighting and #3 Nick Canade of the Steelheads received a penalty for fighting. This was the first fight in Tahoe Knight Monsters history.
Less than twenty seconds after the fight, #17 Ty Pelton-Bryce received a penalty for roughing. The final score was 6-1 Idaho Steelheads.
https://echl.com/videos/idaho-steelheads-vs-kansas-city-mavericks-nov-1-2024
#31 Justin Robbins got his first pro start which is great. He is a small goalie and does not have the same athleticism that #1 Jesper Vikman has. Goaltending was key in the first win against the Steelheads. It was not on the same level in this game. It is early in the season. Getting Robbins playing time helps further evaluate the goaltending situation. I have not seen any updates on Samuel Mayer. He will likely be out for a while if he returns at all this season. This was his first game back after receiving a game misconduct against the Jacksonville Icemen in game two. I do not know the official reasoning why they went into the first intermission when they did. That could have been a choice by the ECHL. It could have been to get more time to clean up blood. It could have been to make sure their was another ambulance at the game. I know that in pro hockey they can not play without an ambulance at the game. The Tahoe Knight Monsters were not sustaining offensive zone pressure. For most of the game they were not even getting set up in the offensive zone. They did not have a lot of defensive pressure. After the first goal they kind of collapsed into their own net. They started to try and block shots instead of trying to get the puck back. They were consistently leaving Idaho players open. This was the first regulation loss in team history for the Knight Monsters. It was also the first fight and blowout loss. Lots of things went wrong in this game. It is still early in the season and they could bounce back in tonights game.
The Idaho Steelheads had two more shots. The Steelheads had the better shot percentage. The Steelheads had more powerplays. Both teams had the same amount of penalty minutes. Robbins had 23 saves for a 79% save percentage for the Tahoe Knight Monsters. Sholl made 26 saves for a 96% save percentage for the Steelheads.
Tahoe Knight Monsters are now 6th in ECHL Western Conference Mountain Division. They are not in a playoff spot. They are two points (a win) out of a playoff spot. They are still three points (a win and an overtime or shootout loss) away from the top spot in the division. They have the 6th highest points percentage in the division.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters will take on the Idaho Steelheads for game five on Saturday, November 2nd. It will be a home game. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 PM. The theme will be Justice League/DC Comics.
Zac Electrifly 
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