Outliers Fall Short To Spud Kings

UTAH OUTLIERS 1, IDAHO FALLS 3 (NOV 17)

This game was the first matchup between the two teams since their shootout thriller in Idaho Falls on October 21st and it did not disappoint. The game had plenty of hard-hitting action and intense battles which has become customary with these two clubs over the past two seasons.

The first period started with both teams applying aggressive checking pressure and making it difficult to find much open ice to generate offense. The opening frame also displayed some big hits and physical play as each team worked to assert their presence and grab some early momentum.

Idaho opened the scoring at 13:46 when forward Easton Edwards redirected a shot at the hash marks from teammate Tyler Williams. The redirected shot found its way past Outliers netminder Phil Rondina. The period came to a close with Idaho leading 1-0 but the shots favored the Outliers by a margin of 10-9.

The Outliers didn't waste any time in the second period to find their game as they came out flying, applying offensive pressure in the Spud Kings zone and setting up a flurry of scoring chances.

Utah was rewarded for their efforts when defenseman Kieran Ronan grabbed possession of the puck from a breakout pass from defenseman Garrett Joss that led to a 3-on-1 rush for the visitors. The play would result in a net-mouth chance for Outliers forward Makar Klochkov who was able to bury a rebound shot past the Spud Kings Lukas Malant to knot the game up 1-1.

Utah continued its offensive assault on Idaho and had several grade-A chances in the second frame but were all turned away by Idaho's goalie, Malant. Although Utah was able to dominate the period and outshoot Idaho 21-8 they were unable to create any separation on the scoreboard and the period ended deadlocked at one apiece.

The third period was much more even in its play with a lot of back-and-forth action between the two clubs. Although the Outliers were able to sustain some impressive shifts in the Spud Kings zone they couldn't find a much-needed second goal to take the lead in the contest.

Utah's lack of scoring caught up to them as the Spud Kings Xavier Goodwin buried a shot in the slot at 13:58 of the final period to give Idaho a 2-1 lead.

To add insult to injury, the Outliers were tagged with a penalty just seconds before the Idaho goal which meant they would have to kill off the penalty before they could attempt to even up the score and force overtime.

Despite successfully killing off their penalty, Utah pulled it goalie for an extra attacker but allowed the Spud Kings to score an empty net goal in the dying seconds of the game. Idaho locked up the win by a score of 3-1.

It was a valiant effort by the Outliers but the club's lack of scoring cost them in this game as they outshot the Spud Kings 45-30 but came up empty in the win column.