The Tahoe Knight Monsters began its three-game series against the Iowa Heartlanders on a bad note, allowing a season-high seven goals in the loss. The defeat was short-lived though as they came back strong, keeping them atop the mountain division.

Game One

In game one of their series against the Iowa Heartlanders, the Tahoe Knight Monsters dug themselves into an early hole and couldn’t climb out in a 7-3 loss. They allowed six goals in the first 30 minutes of play, and the seven total ceded is the most they have given up in a game all season long. 

The first period started with Sloan Stanick ripping one past Iowa Heartlanders’ netminder William Rousseau just under two minutes in. It was his 17th of the season, which put him on top of the ECHL rookie leaderboard in goals and points. 

Despite the Knight Monsters scoring first, Iowa proceeded to net three unanswered goals, two coming from Jonny Sorenson and one from Zach Dubinsky. 

While he allowed three goals in the first, Knight Monsters netminder Jesper Vikman was victim of a few unlucky bounces and a tough deflection in front of the crease. Scoreboard aside, the Knight Monsters had a strong showing as they outshot Iowa 12-9 and dominated in time of possession. 

But things took another turn for the worse in the second.

Sorenson scored again to complete a hat trick in the opening two minutes of the second period. And Tahoe proceeded to allow two more goals after, which resulted in Vikman being benched for Jordan Papirny. Vikman finished the night with a save percentage of .625% and six goals against. 

Logan Nelson would get Tahoe on the board in the final moments of the second, tapping in an Isaac Johnson pass past Rousseau while on the power play. It was a great setup by Johnson, who faked a shot and teed up Nelson who was wide open. 

Rousseau activated another level in the third, turning away 13 of 14 shots in the frame. Throughout the contest, Tahoe was able to create high-danger scoring chances but Rousseau denied them at every opportunity.

The final buzzer sounded after a Bear Hughes goal with about three minutes to go and an empty netter by Andrew McLean 90 seconds later. The loss is the first time that the Knight Monsters have fallen in regulation in a three-game series opener. 

Game Two

Sometimes, it’s more fun when the best is saved for last.

And that’s exactly what the Knight Monsters did, skating through 67 scoreless minutes in game two against Iowa before taking the contest in a shootout. Jordan Papirny carded his second shutout of the season and Logan Nelson scored the clinching goal to lead Tahoe to a win.

Both Papirny and Iowa netminder Kyle McClellan were excellent in the game, each making highlight-reel saves and stonewalling opposing offenses. But each squad brought it defensively as well, a marked difference from the ten total goals scored in game one.

Neither team was able to muster any offense in the first two periods, but the Knight Monsters had a golden chance to begin the third. A five-minute major boarding penalty and game misconduct on Iowa forward Ryan Miotto sent Tahoe to the power play under two minutes in.

But even with five minutes on the man-advantage, they were unable to solve McClellan and the buzzer sounded on regulation with the game still knotted up at zeroes apiece.

Overtime began slowly but began to ratchet up in intensity at the end, with both sides firing three shots on goal. Luke Adam had a chance all alone in the final seconds of the frame but was denied, and the buzzer sounded once more to send the game to the shootout.

In the skills competition, it was McClellan that blinked first, allowing a goal to Bear Hughes and another to Logan Nelson, and then Papirny sealed the deal on the final shot. The shootout win was a massive two points earned by Tahoe, who still stands alone atop the mountain division.

Game Three

The Knight Monsters definitely have a flair for the dramatic.

They closed out the first half with a flourish, as Jett Jones rocketed them past the Iowa Heartlanders in overtime for a series win by a score of 3-2. Tahoe executed a two-goal comeback after falling early in the first to break some hearts in Iowa.

Iowa dominated the first period, scoring two goals and clamping down on Tahoe’s offense thanks to the efforts of netminder William Rousseau. They killed off two Knight Monsters power plays and scored a shorthanded goal as well, and the buzzer sounded on a 2-0 Iowa lead.

The Knight Monsters flipped the script in the second however, outshooting Iowa 18-9 and getting the lone goal on the board in the frame. Logan Nelson took a great pass from Artur Cholach to the doorstep and beat Rousseau on the forehand to cut the deficit in half.

And it took just six minutes for Tahoe to tie things up in the third.

Simon Pinard, who had just one goal in his past seven games entering the contest, found the loose puck in the slot and fired it past Rousseau for his 20th goal of the season. Pinard is the just the fourth player across the league to reach the 20-goal marker and has done it in just 32 games played.

Both squads had chances to close out the period, but eventually the buzzer rang to signal overtime for the second straight game. But unlike Saturday’s contest which saw seven scoreless minutes and then a shootout, Jett Jones decided to end things just a minute into the extra frame.

He received a perfect pass from Cholach while he was stationed alone in front of Rousseau and wasted no time to start Tahoe’s all-star break early and complete Tahoe’s fourth straight series win.

Jesper VIkman recorded a fantastic bounce back effort after being pulled in game one of the series, stopping 20 of 22 shots for his 15th win of the season.

The Knight Monsters are 16-6 since the start of December, a furious run that has seen them ascend to the top of the mountain division and just two points behind the Toledo Walleye for the top spot in the entire western conference. Their 51 points are top 5 in the ECHL at the midway point in the season.

Tahoe will enjoy a few days off for the all-star break before returning home to the Tahoe Blue Event Center to welcome the Fort Wayne Komets to town for a three-game series. Puck drop on Friday, January 24 is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. And, after every Knight Monsters home game check out a postgame party at AleWorX Stateline for wood-fired pizza and self-serve beer. Tickets can be found here: https://www.tahoeblueeventcenter.com/events.