BOISE, ID. - A pair of power play goals and a 45 save effort from Jake Paterson wasn’t enough for Norfolk Friday night as the Idaho Steelheads topped the Admirals 4-2. The Steelheads completed the trifecta scoring a shorthanded, power play, and even strength goal en route to the opening night victory.
Idaho got on the board in the first period with a short-handed goal. Brady Brassart intercepted a pass deep in his own zone, and turned up ice on a two-on-one. Tommy Thompson took the pass from Brassart and headed up ice before returning the puck to Brassart who tucked a backhand shot over the shoulder of Paterson, giving the Steelheads a 1-0 lead. Paterson stood tall in the Admirals net the rest of the first, making 21 saves on 22 shots in the frame.
Just under six minutes into the middle stanza the Admirals power play got the game tied up. Angelo Miceli found a wide-open Trevor Mingoia on the far post before Mingoia snapped a shot past Phillippe Derosiers to bring the game even at 1-1. Idaho would answer back scoring two more before the second period would come to an end getting goals from Henrik Samuelsson and Mitch Moroz. After forty minutes of play the Admirals found themselves trailing 3-1.
In the third the Norfolk power play would strike again. Rookie TJ Melancon took a drop pass from Brodie Dupont, walked to the middle of the ice before wristing a shot into the top corner of the net, cutting the Steelhead lead to 3-2. Norfolk was unable to beat Derosiers the rest of the way however. Late in the game Idaho’s AJ White collected a loose rebound in front of Paterson and chipped it home to conclude the scoring, giving Idaho a 4-2 victory. Former Admiral goaltender Phillippe Derosiers made 23 saves in the victory while Norfolk netminder Jake Paterson finished the night making 45 saves on 49 shots in his Norfolk debut.
Notable: Nashville Predators draft pick Frederic Allard made his professional debut…Norfolk finished the night two-for-four on the man-advantage…. Trevor Mingoia has scored in each of his last three games dating back to last season…TJ Melancon recorded the first point of his professional career with the third period goal
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