Steelhounds on eight-game road trip

Youngstown's journey begins tonight in Tulsa, Okla.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Frequent flyer miles will be easy to come by for the Youngstown SteelHounds, who hit the road for eight straight games and 4,562 miles over the next 21 days.
The journey begins tonight in Tulsa, Okla., in the first of four straight Northeast Divisional games for the SteelHounds.
This weekend, the SteelHounds battle Memphis Friday and Sunday and Bossier-Shreveport on Saturday. The road trip concludes next week with games against Lubbock, Tulsa and a pair against Oklahoma City.
The SteelHounds wrapped up a six-game homestand Saturday night with a 5-4 overtime loss to the Corpus Christi Rayz, despite having a 3-0 first period lead and a 4-2 lead heading into the final period. The 'Hounds finished the home stand with a 3-1-2 record, earning points in five of the six games and eight points overall. Youngstown went 9-for-51 on the power play over the home stretch (17.6 percent) but struggled killing penalties allowing 12 power play goals on 44 chances (72.7 percent).
Richards leads home stand
Chris Richards led the SteelHounds during the home stand with 13 points (5 goals and 8 assists) and David Currie went 2-1-2 in net.
Brad Patterson was one of the leaders last week for the SteelHounds, ending two games with shootout strikes in victories against Corpus Christi. Patterson had a four-game point streak end Saturday night that saw him score two goals with five assists. Patterson is tied for the league-lead with two shootout goals.
The SteelHounds are off to a solid start at 8-3-4 with all seven losses coming by just one goal. Youngstown's hot start has them tied for first place in the Northeast Division with Memphis and just two points behind Colorado for the best point total in the CHL. Last season at this point, the Hounds were 6-8-1 and on a stretch that saw them lose seven of eight games.