The Tahoe Knight Monsters played the New Mexico Goatheads on Saturday. This was the fourth game of the season. The game was at the Tahoe Blue Event Center in Stateline, Nevada. The Knight Monsters had played three games. They had a record of 1-1-1. The Tahoe Knight Monsters are the ECHL affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights. The Knight Monsters were coming off a win over the New Mexico Goatheads. The New Mexico Goatheads had played four games. They had a record of 0-3-1. The New Mexico Goatheads are the ECHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche. The New Mexico Goatheads were coming off a loss to the Tahoe Knight Monsters.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters were looking for their second win of the season. The Knight Monsters were also looking for back-to-back wins. The New Mexico Goatheads were looking for their first win of the season. The Goatheads were also looking for their first win in franchise history. The Knight Monsters dominated the Goatheads in their previous meeting. The Knight Monsters were efficient when it came to passing, defensive pressure, and finishing chances. The Goatheads had plenty of chances. They failed to capitalize on most of them. Penalties were going to play a big part in this game. The Knight Monsters took some bad penalties in their last meeting. The last meeting was fairly aggressive. I excpected that to continue. The Knight Monsters gave up a lot of odd man rushes in their last meeting. That was something that needed to change if they wanted to win this game. Would the Knight Monsters get their second win of the season? Would the Goatheads get their first franchise win?
Jordan Papirny got the start in net for the Tahoe Knight Monsters. It was his first game in net this season. Hunter Miska got the start in net for the Tahoe Knight Monsters. It was his second game in net this season. On Saturday, New Mexico placed forward Dakota Seaman on injured reserve. They activated Forward Graeme McCrory from injured reserve. They place forward Tyler Drevitch on reserve.
A minute into the first period, Briley Wood of the New Mexico Goatheads was called for high-sticking. Five minutes into the game, Casey McDonald of the Tahoe Knight Monsters was called for tripping. With under eight minutes left in the first period, Cameron Buhl scored to give the Goatheads the lead. His goal was assisted by Lynden Breen and Jake Chiasson.
With eight minutes left in the first period, Shane Smith of Tahoe was called for roughing. At the same time, Rilen Kovacevic of New Mexico was called for slashing. With three minutes left in the opening period, Jake McGrew scored for the Knight Monsters to tie the game. The tying goal was assisted by Shane Smith and Jett Jones.
With under two minutes left in the first period, Aaron Chiarot of New Mexico was called for slashing. The score was tied at 1-1 after the first period.
Two minutes into the second period, Kooper Gizowski of the Tahoe Knight Monsters was called for high-sticking. Five minutes into the second period, the New Mexico Goatheads scored to regain the lead. The goal was scored by Francesco Arcuri. His goal was assisted by Jake Chiasson and Derek Daschke.
Seven minutes into the second period, Trevor Zins of New Mexico was called for hooking. With under six minutes left in the second period, Samuel Mayer of Tahoe was given a double minor penalty for roughing. At the same time, German Yavas of New Mexico was called for slashing. With under three minutes left in the second period, Francesco Arcuri scored to give the New Mexico Goatheads a two-goal lead. His goal was assisted by Derek Daschke and Jake Chiasson.
With under a minute left in the second period, Noah Nelson of Tahoe was called for high-sticking. The New Mexico Goatheads had a two-goal lead going into the third period.
Two minutes into the third period, Chris Hedden scored another goal for the New Mexico Goatheads. His goal was assisted by German Yavaş and Grant Ahcan. This goal gave the goat heads a three-goal lead.
Seven minutes into the third period, Francesco Arcuri of New Mexico was called for holding. With under four minutes left in the game the Tahoe Knight Monsters pulled their goalie for the extra attacker. With under three minutes left in the game, the Goatheads scored on the empty net. The empty net goal was scored by Lynden Breen. His goal was assisted by Cameron Buhl and Chris Hedden.
The final score was 5-1, New Mexico Goatheads.
https://echl.com/videos/new-mexico-goatheads-vs-tahoe-knight-monsters-oct-24-2026
The New Mexico Goatheads scored the first goal of the game. That was only their second lead of the season. The Tahoe Knight Monsters were able to equalize it before the end of the period. The Goatheads then scored four unanswered goals. The Knight Monsters came into the second period flat. They did not have the same energy they had from Friday night. They did not have the same level of execution they had in Fridays game. Tahoe also took some bad penalties. That did not help. Tahoe continued to let New Mexico have a lot of odd man rushes. New Mexico was able to execute better in this game. One of the big storylines in this game was that the audio in the arena was not working for most of the game. That lead to a dead crowd and low energy in the building. There were times where the energy picked up but not as much as if there was audio. At one point in the second period, a New Mexico player went down in front of the Tahoe bench. He was slow to get after it looked like he hit the inside of where the door opens. He was able to get up and to his bench. Play was never stopped. I did see Briley Wood leave the game and head to the locker room. It might have been him. I do not think Wood returned to the game. This was not the game I was expecting from Tahoe after Friday. This was a poor fallow up after a solid win. The New Mexico Goatheads got their first win in franchise history with this victory.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters had ten more shots. The Knight Monsters had 43 total shots. The New Mexico Goatheads had 33 total shots. The Goatheads had the better shots percentage. The Goatheads had one more power play. The Knight Monsters had two more penalty minutes.The Knight Monsters went 0-for-4 on the power play for 0%. The Goatheads went 0-for-5 on the power play for 0%. Jordan Papirny saved 28 of 33 shots for a 85% save percentage for Tahoe. Hunter Miska saved 42 of 43 shots for a 98% save percentage for New Mexico.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters have a record of 1-2-1 with 3 points. They have a win percentage of .375. The Tahoe Knight Monsters are tied for 15th place in the ECHL. The Knight Monsters are tied for 8th place in the ECHL Western Conference. They are tied for 5th place in the ECHL Western Conference Mountain Division.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters take on the New Mexico Goatheads for game number five. That game will be on Sunday, October 25th, 2026. That game will be at the Tahoe Blue Event Center in Stateline, Nevada. The theme for the game is opening weekend.
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