The Tahoe Knight Monsters took on the Idaho Steelheads last night. It was Justice League night. The Tahoe Knight Monsters wore special Justice League jerseys. Puck drop was at 7:00 PM. The game was at the Tahoe Blue Events Center. It was the fifth game of the season. The Tahoe Knight Monsters are the Vegas Golden Knights ECHL affiliate. The Knight Monsters were coming off of a 1-6 defeat to the Idaho Steelheads the night before. The Knight Monsters had a record of 2-1-1 going into the game. The Knight Monsters were in 21st place in the ECHL. They were 9th in the Western Conference and 6th in the Mountain Division. The Idaho Steelheads are the ECHL affiliate of the Dallas Stars. The Steelheads had played six games. The Steelheads were coming off of a 6-1 win over the Tahoe Knight Monsters. The Steelheads had a record of 4-2-0 going into the game. The Steelheads were in 8th place in the ECHL. They were in 4th place in the Western Conference and 2nd place in the Mountain Division.
The Idaho Steelheads played more games. The Steelheads had more wins. The Steelheads had a better win percentage. The Steelheads scored 15 more goals. The Steelheads allowed 4 more goals. The Steelheads had the better goal differential. The Steelheads had more points. The Knight Monsters had 62 penalty minutes. The Steelheads had 76 penalty minutes.
#1 Jasper Vikman was back in net for the Tahoe Knight Monsters. It was his fourth start of the season. The Knight Monsters activated forward #8 Ryan Orgel and forward #17 Adam Robbins. Defender Samuel Mayer was placed on reserve after being stretchered off the ice in the previous game. Forward Adam Pitters was placed on reserve by the Knight Monsters. #30 Bryan Thomson was back in net for the Idaho Steelheads. It was his third start of the season. The Steelheads activated forward #36 Blake Swetikoff. They placed forward Mark Olver on reserve.
Eight minutes into the game #19 Lynden McCallum received a penalty for slashing. On the following powerplay, #9 Troy Loggins scored to give the Tahoe Knight Monsters the lead. His goal was assisted by #28 Logan Nelson and #19 Luke Adam. Loggins got the puck with time and space. His shot went off a defender and through the goalies legs. This goal gave the Knight Monsters a one goal lead.
Thirteen minutes into the game the Steelheads tied it. #17 Ty Pelton-Byce scored the goal. It was assisted by #67 Hank Crone and #74 Connor Punnett. On the rush, the puck bounced around in front of the goal. Tahoe could not clear it. Pelton-Byce got a hold of it and scored.
The score was tied at 1-1 after the first period.
Two minutes into the second period, #74 Connor Punnett of the Idaho Steelheads received a penalty for Hooking. On the powerplay, #12 Sloan Stanick scored to regain the lead for the Tahoe Knight Monsters. His goal was assisted #14 Patrick Newell and #12 Bear Hughes. Stanick got the puck at the point. He skated in. His shot from the roulette wheel went in.
Judt under five minutes into the game, #59 Slava Demin of the Steelheads received a penalty for tripping. Thirty seconds later, #28 Logan Nelson of the Knight Monsters received a penalty for roughing and #9 Brendan Hoffmann received a penalty for roughing. Twelve minutes into the second period, #74 Connor Punnett of the Steelheads received a penalty for slashing. A minute later #19 Luke Adam of the Knight Monsters received a penalty for slashing. Fourteen minutes into the second period, #10 Jett Jones scored for the Knight Monsters. His goal was assisted by #21 Sloan Stanick. The Knight Monsters created a two man breakaway on penalty kill. Stanick passed it to Jones who scored the short handed goal. This goal gave the Knight Monsters a two goal lead.
Fifteen minutes into the second period, #2 Trevor Zins of the Steelheads received a penalty for cross-checking. Seventeen minutes into the second period, #12 Bear Hughes of the Knight Monsters received a penalty for roughing and #26 Jade Miller of the Steelheads received a penalty for roughing. With under a minute left in the second period, #15 C.J. Walker scored for the Steelheads. His goal was assisted by Connor MacEachern and #18 A.J. White. Tahoe could not clear the puck in front of their net again. Walker got the puck and scored. The Knight Monsters still had the lead after this goal.
The score was 3-1 Knight Monsters heading into the third period.
Two minutes into the third period, #7 Elijah Vilio of the Tahoe Knight Monsters received a penalty for interference. With under three minutes to go the Idaho Steelheads pulled their goalie. At the buzzer #12 Bear Hughes scored for the Knight Monsters. He scored an empty net goal from his own zone.
The final score was 4-2 Knight Monsters.
It was a solid win from the Tahoe Knight Monsters. They got the lead and did not give it up. The Idaho Steelheads were playing from behind for most of the game. Vikman made the stops he needed to. The special teams are what won it for the Knight Monsters. Two powerplay goals and a short handed goal won the game for them. Three out out of four of their goals came from the special teams. The Knight Monsters were more disciplined in this game than the Steelheads. That was a positive. The game was still physical. It was not as physical as I had thought it was going to be. The gloves never came off. The hits were hard and there was a lot of things happening behind the play or after the play. The Steelheads seemed to play less physical whenever #48 Anthony Collins was on the ice. After the short handed goal Collins flipped off the entire Steelheads bench. At one point he came off the bench, shoved one of the Steelheads players who was going to the other bench just to go back to the bench. I don’t think he was supposed to do that but he did it anyway. He was just a menace to the Steelheads all series. It was a shame that the Steelheads picked on smaller players all series but did not want anything to do with Collins. This was the Knight Monsters first series win as they won this series two games to one.
The Idaho Tahoe Knight Monsters had two more shots. The Knight Monsters had the better shot percentage. The Knight Monsters had more powerplays. The Idaho Steelheads had 7 more penalty minutes. Vikman had 33 saves for a 94% save percentage for the Tahoe Knight Monsters. Thomson also made 33 saves for a 89% save percentage for the Steelheads.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters now have a record of 3-1-1 with 7 points in 5 games. The Knight Monsters are now in 17th place in ECHL. They are in 8th place in the ECHL Western Conference. They are in 5th place in the ECHL Western Conference Mountain Division. They are tied for the last playoff spot with the Tulsa Oilers. They are still three points (a win and an overtime or shootout loss) away from the top spot in the division. They have the 3rd highest points percentage in the division.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters will take on the Utah Grizzlies for game six on Saturday, November 9th. It will be an away game. The Knight Monsters will play back to back games on back to back nights in Utah. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:10 PM. This is another divisional series.
Zac Electrifly 
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