AHL Utah Grizzlies

Grizzlies beat San Antonio

Published on December 10, 2004 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Utah Grizzlies News Release


SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS- The Grizzlies broke the spell of San Antonio goaltender Patrick DesRoachers beating the netminder for the first time in four outings on Friday night 3-2 in the SBC Center. Jeff Taffe scored the game-winning goal and added an assist, while Jean-Marc Pelletier had his third straight outstanding performance making 32 saves gaining the victory for the Grizzlies who improve to 1-1 on their current three-game road trip.

Utah and San Antonio played a tight first period that was scoreless until the final minute of the frame when Terry Virtue and Ryan Jardine went nose-to-nose drawing penalties with one extra minor assessed to Jardine putting Utah on the power play for the first time on the night. With the man advantage, Kiel McLeod shoved a rebound past Patrick DesRoachers who had gone over 140 minutes against Utah without allowing a goal. The McLeod goal was created by strong play along the boards by Peter White and Aaron Gavey who got the puck back to the left point where Jeff Taffe uncorked a shot that DesRoachers stopped but let out in front of the net for McLeod to finish on. Jean-Marc Pelletier continued his strong play making 13 saves in the frame.

The Rampage would tie the game at the 11:32 mark of the second period when Juraj Kolnik re-directed a Joel Kwiatkowski shot past Pelletier for his fourth goal of the season. Utah would answer back with a flurry against DesRoachers that finished with Rick Berry scoring his second goal of the season and his first since October 15th assisted by Fredrik Sjostrom at 15:36 of the period. It looked as if the Grizzlies would take a one goal lead into the intermission but San Antoniuo attacked the Grizzlies' net late in the period and after stopping two shots Pelletier couldn't turn away Rob Globke's second goal of the season with just .2 seconds remaining in the period.

Utah would break the tie in the third period when Terry Virtue hustled top breakup a Rampage pass and found White on the doorstep who in turn threw a pass out in front for a blast from Taffe for his sixth goal of the season. Pelletier and the Grizzlies would weather the storm late in the period and hang on for the victory.

San Antonio outshot the Grizzlies 34-24 as Pelletier improves to 2-6-1 making 32 saves on 34 shots. DesRoachers made 21 saves falling to 4-5-1.

Utah will have an off day tomorrow before ending their road trip with an afternoon tilt versus the Chicago Wolves in the Allstate Arena on Sunday at 2:00 PM (mt).

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American Hockey League Stories from December 10, 2004


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