The Chicago Steel advanced to the Eastern Conference finals after their 3–1 series victory over the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. Goaltender Justin Robbins stopped 39 of 41 shots faced in the series and forward Robert Mastrosimone paced the offense with two goals, raising his semifinal series total to three goals.
Chicago 3, Cedar Rapids 1
Forward Christian Sarlo scored his second goal of the series at the 6:07 mark in the first period when he fired a shot past RoughRiders goaltender Blake Pietila. The goal, assisted by forward Cole Quisenberry and defenseman Owen Power, was the first of two goals in just over one minute.
Finnish defenseman Uula Ruikka fired his second goal of the season, extending the Chicago lead to 2–1, with assists from defenseman Luke Reid and forward Jake Schmaltz.
Chicago outshot Cedar Rapids 9–8 heading into the first intermission. After the break, the RoughRiders came out firing, scoring the only goal of the second period when forward Aidan McDonough scored his fourth goal of the season, finally beating Robbins.
Early in the third period, forward Gunnarwolfe Fontaine buried a shot past Pietila, extending the Chicago lead to 3–1. The goal, assisted by defenseman John Spetz and forward Josiah Slavin, was all the Steel needed to hold off the RoughRiders and take a 2–1 series lead heading into game four on Wednesday night.
Chicago 4, Cedar Rapids 1
Chicago’s regular season scoring leader Nick Abruzzese fired his third goal of the playoffs past Pietila with only 10.4 seconds left in the first period to give Chicago the 1–0 lead. The goal was assisted by Mastrosimone and captain Matteo Pietroniro.
Abruzzese scores with just 1️⃣1️⃣ seconds left in the first! @chicagosteel leads 1-0 😎#WhosNext pic.twitter.com/2ucQPLiUYW
— USHL (@USHL) April 25, 2019
At the 1:38 mark in the second period, Spetz scored his second goal of the playoffs, giving Chicago their only power play goal of the evening. Forwards Mathieu De St. Phalle and Adam Robbins assisted on the goal.
RoughRiders forward Jack O’Leary cut the Chicago lead to one goal when he fired a shot past Robbins, at the 18:50 mark of the second period, but that would again be the only goal to slip past Robbins, who played outstanding again this evening.
Mastrosimone scored twice in the third period to seal the series victory for Chicago. The Steel outplayed the RoughRiders for much of the game, outshooting Cedar Rapids 26–18 for the game, while killing off all five power plays the RoughRiders were handed.
With the victory, Chicago faces off against the Eastern Conference regular season champion Muskegon Lumberjacks in the best-of-five series in the Eastern Conference final. Chicago won the last two regular season matchups against Muskegon.
Eastern Conference Final Schedule
Game 1: Chicago at Muskegon – Saturday, April 27 at 6:15 p.m. CT
Game 2: Chicago at Muskegon – Sunday, April 28 at 4:15 p.m. CT
Game 3: Muskegon at Chicago – Friday, May 3 at 7:05 p.m. CT
Game 4: Muskegon at Chicago – Saturday, May 4 7:05 p.m. CT (if necessary)
Game 5: Chicago at Muskegon – Monday, May 6 at 6:15 p.m. CT (if necessary)