Tahoe Knight Monsters Tahoe Knight Monsters
Schedule
Get Tickets
  1. Home
  2. News
  3. Tahoe Brings out the Brooms in Idaho for Series Sweep

Tahoe Brings out the Brooms in Idaho for Series Sweep

Saturday, March 15th
Tahoe Brings out the Brooms in Idaho for Series Sweep
Postgame recap presented by AleWorX Stateline
 
When the clock ticked down on Tahoe’s 4-0 win in Boise against the Steelheads, there was no stunned silence at the Idaho Central Arena.
 
Instead, cheers rained down from the Knight Monsters faithful that made the trip, celebrating a massive two-game sweep for Tahoe. Those fans in the stands were given a treat, watching an excellent top-to-bottom effort that featured a 39-save shutout from Jesper Vikman and clutch goals in all three periods. 
 
The win catapulted Tahoe past the Tulsa Oilers for second in the division, and they are 10 points ahead of Idaho after taking both games of this set. 
 
They carried over their momentum from game one of the series into game two with two goals scored in the first period. Sloan Stanick started the action with a sharp angle missile just over nine minutes in past Idaho netminder Ben Kraws, and Simon Pinard deflected in a Bear Hughes shot with under a minute to go.
 
Pinard’s primary helper on the Stanick goal was his 100th career point in the ECHL, and he added his 101st with the goal late in the frame. It was a high-flying period with 27 total shots taken (15 by Tahoe), and Vikman set the tone for his game with some fantastic saves while on the penalty kill. 
 
In the second, Luke Adam added to the fun with a wrist shot goal off of a perfect feed from Jake McGrew to make it 3-0. That was the only goal in a tight-checking period that had many high-danger sequences against Vikman, all of which were turned away.
 
And Vikman took things to another level in the third.
 
He made 15 stops in the frame to complete the shutout, as Idaho continued to tilt the ice in their favor throughout the frame. While Tahoe only mustered six shots, it was Anthony Collins that sealed the deal with five minutes to go.
 
Slava Demin banked the puck 150 feet down the ice to spring Collins on a breakaway, and he pulled off a nifty move to slide the puck past Kraws and put the nail in the coffin of the series.
 
Vikman finished the contest with 39 saves, marking his first shutout of the season and one of his best performances of the year. 
 
Tahoe is now 7-1-1 in their past nine games going back to late February, and are allowing just 2.22 goals per game in that span. They have sprung themselves into a solid position in the final stretch of the season.
 
Now they turn their attention to a road set against Tulsa, who they are 5-1-1-1 against this season, and 2-0 on the road. It’s another two huge divisional matchups before they welcome Idaho to the Tahoe Blue Event Center in late March. 
 
Game one against the Oilers is on Friday, March 21, with puck drop scheduled for 5:05 pm. Khalin Kapoor will be on the call. And, after every Knight Monsters home game make sure to check out AleWorX Stateline for a postgame party.
 
#TessTheWaters