West Valley City, UT- The Idaho Steelheads (7-1-1) lost in regulation for the first time this season as the Utah Grizzlies (4-2-0) skated to a 5-2 win over Idaho at the E-Center of West Valley City tonight. Dylan Hunter netted a hat trick for the Grizzlies, who scored three of their five goals on power plays.The Utah Grizzlies opened the scoring on the power play at 6:16 of the first period when Dylan Hunter took a pass from Ryan Kinasewich and poked the puck by Idaho goalie Richard Bachman, the reigning ECHL Goalie of the Week.
The Steelheads tied the game at 10:27 of the first period with a power play goal of their own when Evan Barlow directed the puck home from in-close after a Weston Tardy point show; Brendan Milnamow also assisted on the goal that tied the game at 1-1.
Just as they did in the first period, the Utah Grizzlies struck first in the second period. Also, like the Grizzlies' earlier tally, it was Dylan Hunter scoring on a man-advantage. Hunter found the puck on his stick just to the left of Bachman, and deposited the puck into a largely empty cage at 1:35 of the period.
Less than eight minutes later, Marty Flichel took a puck in the slot, and beat Utah netminder Parker Van Buskirk with a slap shot to tie the game; the goal was the second for the Steelheads' captain. Mike Stuart picked up the lone assist on the goal.
Shortly thereafter, with the game tied, Mathieu Tousignant was denied by Van Buskirk on a penalty shot chance. Just moments later, Hunter had a penalty shot opportunity for the Grizzlies, and he did convert, completing the hat trick.
Before the period could close, Vlady Nikiforov beat Bachman from the high slot for an unassisted tally to make the score 4-2 for Utah heading into the second intermission.
The Grizzlies added the only goal of the third period, as A.J. Perry took a pass at the top of the crease and banged it by Bachman to give Utah a 5-2 lead.
Bachman suffered the first loss of his professional career; he is now 4-1-1. He stopped 21 of 26 shots in the loss. Van Buskirk stopped 25 of 27 for the win; he is 4-1-0.
The Steelheads and Grizzlies are back in action Friday night in Utah before heading up the road to Qwest Arena for the series finale on Saturday night.
TONIGHT'S AQUAFINA THREE STARS:
1. DYLAN HUNTER (UTA)
2. PARKER VAN BUSKIRK (UTA)
3. JAMES SIXSMITH (UTA)
TONIGHT'S COORS LIGHT OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME: MARTY FLICHEL (IDH)
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