ECHL Utah Grizzlies

Conference Finals Open Monday In Las Vegas

Published on May 9, 2008 under ECHL (ECHL)
Utah Grizzlies News Release


Series Schedule

Utah @ Las Vegas - Monday, May 12, 8:05 p.m.

Utah @ Las Vegas - Tuesday, May 13, 8:05 p.m.

Las Vegas @ Utah - Thursday, May 15, 7:05 p.m.

Las Vegas @ Utah - Friday, May 16, 7:05 p.m.

Las Vegas @ Utah - Sunday, May 18, 4:05 p.m. (Game 5 - If Necessary)

Utah @ Las Vegas - Tuesday, May 20, 8:05 p.m. (Game 6 - If Necessary)

Utah @ Las Vegas - Wednesday, May 21, 8:05 p.m. (Game 7 - If Necessary)

First Things First

The Grizzlies are 2-0 in the first game of a playoff series this year outscoring Victoria and Fresno 12-1 in those two road games. Utah defeated Fresno 6-1 April 13 and Victoria 6-0 April 25. In both cases, the Grizzlies jumped to 6-0 leads.

Holy Moley and Nate The Great

Utah goaltenders Mike Mole (3-0) and Nathan Lawson (5-3) have combined to lead Utah to an 8-3 playoff record, including three shutouts, through two rounds. Both are making their playoff debuts this season. Mole currently leads the league with a 1.95 goals against average and a .934 save percentage among goaltenders who have played at least two playoff games. Mole has started the Grizzlies last three games.

Hot Scorers

Ryan Kinasewich led Utah in goals during the Victoria series with six goals and two assists in five games. He has scored Utah's first goal in the last three games. Keith Johnson had three goals and six assists in the Victoria series; including three assists in game one on April 25 and two goals and two assists in Utah's 7-5 come from behind win on Thursday, May 1 in game three.

James Misc. Sanford

James Sanford leads Utah with five multi-point games out of eleven in the playoffs. Sanford also leads the Grizzlies with one goal and seven assists on the power-play.

Playoff Power-Play

The Utah power-play leads the ECHL in the playoffs at 14-54 for a conversion percentage of 25.9.

In The Playoffs

Both Utah and Las Vegas currently hold 8-3 records in the playoffs; which ties them with Cincinnati for the best winning percentage (.727) in the ECHL's Kelly Cup Playoffs.

On The Road

Utah is currently 4-1 on the road in the playoffs.

Vegas During The Regular Season

Utah went winless in their last ten games versus the Wranglers during the regular season after winning the first game of the season series 8-5 November 2 at Orleans Arena. However, the Grizzlies went just 3-6 versus Victoria during the regular season and winless in their final four games of the regular season against Fresno before defeating those two teams in the first two rounds.

One-Goal Games

14 of the 26 all-time ECHL games, including six of eleven in 2007-2008, between Utah and Las Vegas have been one-goal contests. Utah is 6-4-4 in those games overall and went 0-3-3 in one-goal games versus Las Vegas in 2007-2008.

Conference Finals Last Time

The Grizzlies were last in the conference finals during the 1995-96 season in the IHL and ironically enough defeated the Las Vegas Thunder four games to two to advance to the Turner Cup Finals against Orlando. They then swept the Solar Bears in four-straight games to claim their second-straight Turner Cup.

Halfway There

The Grizzlies have completed two of four series and eight of the 16 necessary wins required to claim the Kelly Cup and their first league championship since 1996.

Who's Next?

The winner of this series will face the winner of the Cincinnati/South Carolina series in the Kelly Cup Finals. That best-of-seven series gets underway tonight at the US Bank Arena in Ohio.

Check out the Utah Grizzlies Statistics

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ECHL Stories from May 9, 2008


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