A three-goal third period and 18-save effort from goaltender Zach Stahl guided the Pueblo Peppers to a 4-1 victory over the Idaho Falls Spud Kings on Saturday night at the Pueblo Ice Arena and Events Center.
The Peppers dominated the first period, despite being unable to find the scoresheet against Spud Kings netminder Dylan McFayden. An early tripping penalty to Garrett Fischer just ninety seconds into the contest gave the Spud Kings a power play on which Pueblo didn’t surrender a shot on goal, In fact, not once in the opening 6:53 of the first period did the Spud Kings manage a shot on goal and the Peppers limited the visitors to just three shots in the opening twenty minutes to take the game to the first intermission tied at 0-0.
Pueblo started the second period with a bang as winger Blake Graff took a stretch pass from Fischer and finished off a breakaway with a wrist shot over the glove of McFayden for his first goal of the season to give the Peppers a 1-0 lead just 48 seconds into the period. The breakaways didn’t stop there and with 6:57 left in the frame, defenseman Trevor Bodie rifled a stretch pass and unleashed Jake Spraetz on a breakaway from center ice. Spraetz slid a backhander through the pads of McFayden for his second goal of the year to double the lead, 2-0, with 6:57 left to play in the period. Winger Michael Mathisone extended his point streak to five games in the period’s waning moments. With 20 seconds left in the frame, Mathison had space from the left wing faceoff circle and snapped a wrist shot into the net to give the Peppers a 3-0 lead headed into the second intermission.
The Spud Kings leading goal scorer, Tyler Atchison, finally put Idaho Falls on the board in the third period. The puck caromed off the end boards and right to the stick of Atchison, who fired a wrist shot past the glove of Stahl to get the visitors on the board, 3-1, with 12:55 remaining in regulation. The Spud Kings killed off a penalty and pulled McFayden for the extra attacker with 1:56 remaining in regulation, but a late roughing minor to Atchison ended the threat and put Pueblo on the power play with 58 seconds remaining. Jake McIntosh squeezed the puck past McFayden on the short side for his third goal of the season with 29 seconds remaining to get the Peppers the 4-1 lead that the retained until the final buzzer.