SteelHounds suffer 3-1 defeat against Colorado

Youngstown's fourth sellout crowd of the season watched the action.
By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Central Hockey League's winningest goaltender probably wouldn't mind spending more St. Patrick's weekends at the Chevrolet Centre. Colorado's Paulo Colaiacovo certainly padded his statistics with two stellar performances against the Youngstown SteelHounds.
The 23-year-old Colaiacovo (29-9-3) followed Friday's 3-0 shutout victory with a 3-1 triumph Saturday in front of the SteelHounds' fourth sellout crowd of their inaugural season.
The win gives Colorado (43-12-6) 90 points to clinch home-ice advantage throughout the CHL's Eastern Conference playoffs. And with three games to play, the defending champion Eagles have a six-point lead over the Western Conference's best team, Laredo, pending the outcome of a late Saturday game.
Saturday's game turned on a goalie interference penalty assessed to SteelHounds center Chris Richards late in the second period. Trailing 2-1, the SteelHounds thought they had tied the game with a power play goal.
But referee Mark Lemelin immediately waved off the goal as Richards had fallen into Colaiacovo.
"I was trying to get out [of the crease] and the guy behind me pushed me into the goalie and I couldn't move," said Richards, who added the arena replay screens showed the push by the Eagles defender.
The ensuing Colorado power play netted the Eagles their third goal as a second shot from the slot, this time by left winger Ryan Tobler, beat St. Germain. Erik Adams and Nelson and assisted on Tobler's 24th goal that sealed the win.
"I was just trying to get out of the way and that turned out to be a two-goal swing," said Richards who was kept off the scoring sheet for the second straight night after scoring in 19 consecutive games. "That was the game, the difference."
In the third period, the SteelHounds produced 11 shots but couldn't score against Colaiacovo, who finished with 37 saves.
Shutout on power plays
Once again, the SteelHounds struggled with the man-advantage, going 0-for-10 on the power play.
SteelHounds goalie David St. Germain (16-27-4) made 25 saves.
In four games against the Eagles, the SteelHounds were competitive in three (losing 1-0, 3-0 and 3-1).
"For whatever reason, we seem to play the better teams tough," Richards said. "It seems that we match up well with teams that have systems compared to teams that are just running around."
The defeat extends the SteelHounds' (21-35-5) winless streak to 10 (0-9-1).
"There was a good pace to this game, but we didn't get the breaks," Richards said. "It's unfortunate because we need a win at home."
Despite outplaying the Eagles in the first period, Colorado led 1-0 thanks to a two-man advantage created by penalties to Darryl Lloyd (hooking) and Richards (cross checking ).
Riley Nelson stuffed the puck past St. Germain to put the Eagles ahead about seven-and-a-half minutes into the game. Defenseman Brad Williamson and Eagles captain Greg Pankewicz assisted on the five-on-three power play goal, Riley's 26th.
Tough in goal
Late in the period, Colaiacovo made a sprawling save on Ben Manny on a breakaway for the SteelHounds' best scoring chance early. Colaiacovo stopped all 13 shots the SteelHounds fired at him during the opening period.
A little more than two minutes into the second period, Lloyd tied the game with a breakaway goal set up by defender Simo Pulkki. It was Lloyd's 15th goal of the season.
But halfway through the period, Pankewicz broke the tie with a four-on-four goal scored from the slot. Adams fed the puck to the unguarded Pankewicz for his 43rd goal. Also receiving an assist was Les Borsheim.
The SteelHounds conclude the regular season with three home games against the Ft. Worth Brahmas (the worst team in the Central Hockey League this season) on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Game time each day is 7:05 p.m. at the Chevrolet Centre.
williams@vindy.com