Recap Against Steamboat

Steamboat Wranglers @ Dallas Snipers

by Scott Harrington

The Dallas Snipers kept themselves in the thick of the Mid-Western Division race by winning three games over the visiting Steamboat Wranglers.

Dallas 5, Steamboat 3 – Dallas won the series opener, 5-3.  The first two times the Snipers scored the Wranglers tied the game back up, but Danil Trenikhin and Igor Litvinenko scored in the final 1:13 of the second period to give Dallas a 4-2 lead at the break.

Avery Albert got the Wranglers back within a goal with 7:37 left in the game, but Trenikhin’s second goal of the night with 2:45 left sealed the deal for the Snipers.  With the two teams playing 4-on-4, Arvidas Domeika made a long pass from the Dallas goal line extended all the way to Trenikhin at the Steamboat blue line.  He skated the puck to the right circle, cut to the middle, and beat Steamboat’s Jordan Belley (39 saves) with a sharp wrist shot.

Alexander Aleshkin made a number of 10-bell saves in the final two minutes to preserve the win.  He stopped 17 of 18 shots in the third period and made 34 saves on the night.

Dallas 5, Steamboat 2 – Five different Dallas skaters scored goals and Kyle Plantz stopped 27 of 29 shots for the Snipers in a 5-2 win on Saturday.

Steamboat’s Dalton Eagle Bear gave the Wranglers an early lead when he broke the ice just 3:10 after the opening puck drop, but the Snipers tied it up before the end of the period on an Igor Litvinenko goal, then took the lead with two unanswered goals in the second period.

Ian Young made 32 saves for the Wranglers.

Dallas 11, Steamboat 5 – Steamboat took a 5-4 lead into the third period on Sunday, but the wheels came off and Dallas scored seven unanswered goals in the third for an 11-5 win.

Trenikhin notched a hat trick and added a pair of assists for a five-point game.  Leo Selitaj (2-1-3) scored twice but, other than those two, the Snipers spread the scoring around. 

Aleshkin (22 saves) did not allow a goal on 19 shots over the final two periods.

Belley made 43 saves for the Wranglers, who’s five goals came from five different players. Jeremy Landers, Jr., Albert and Tyrell Bourk scored in a span of 1:26 early in the game to spot Steamboat a 3-0 lead, and they did not trail in the game until Trenikhin’s third goal 3:32 into the third period.