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ECHL Utah Grizzlies

Colorado Edges Utah 4-3

March 24, 2018 - ECHL (ECHL)
Utah Grizzlies News Release


West Valley City, Utah - The Colorado Eagles defeated the Utah Grizzlies 4-3 Friday night at Maverik Center before 7,074 fans for Metro PCS Pack The House Friday.

Grizzlies fans donated 505 cans of food for Grizzlies Fight Cancer Presented by Ford.

Colorado led 1-0 and 2-1 before Utah tied the contest each time. They took a 4-2 lead in the third period that Utah cut to 4-3 as they were unable to tie with two power-plays late.

"That was a really good hockey game," said Head Coach/General Manager Tim Branham. "Just like Wednesday, it could have gone either way. We battled extremely hard. The difference was our power-play. Our power-play during the winning streak was excellent, running at over 30-percent."

The Grizzlies outshot Colorado 42-30 in the contest and 33-20 over the first two periods after having a 22-9 edge early in the second period.

"I'm proud of our guys," said Branham. "They battled tonight. That's one of the best teams in the league we played tonight. We are a couple guys short. We played with 5 defenseman tonight, and without arguably our best defenseman in the lineup (Taylor Richart missed first game of year injured). That's a huge difference when you are playing against a full lineup with their NHL (contracted) goaltender (Joe Cannata) in.

Colorado took a 1-0 lead 65 seconds into the game as they scored on an odd-man rush. Kyle Thomas (12) knocked in a loose puck 4:59 later and four seconds after a face-off following a Travis Howe fight.

The Grizzlies tied the game at 2 6:04 into the second period and just 8 seconds after killing 1:35 of a five-on-three shorthanded situation as Mitch Maxwell buried a breakaway going to the net for his third of the year.

Colorado scored shorthanded with 2:10 left in the second period as the Grizzlies forced a pass on the power-play and the Eagles took a 4-2 lead 10:14 into the third period.

"There's no quit in our team, that's for sure," said Branham. "We are always going to battle. Tonight was a little setback. We have to get back on the horse tomorrow and make sure we get a win."

Brendan Harms (10) got Utah within a goal with 6:35 left in the third period from Gage Ausmus.

Joel Rumpel stopped 26 of 30 shots in the game for Utah as the Eagles scored three of their four goals in odd-man rush situations.

Military Appreciation Night

Saturday, March 24 is Military Appreciation Night Presented by Mark Miller Subaru. The Grizzlies will be wearing specialty uniforms that will be auctioned off live after the game with all proceeds benefitting multiple military charities.

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