ECHL Utah Grizzlies

Grizzlies End Skid With 5-2 Victory Against Penguins

February 19, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Utah Grizzlies News Release


The Utah Grizzlies took care of the visiting Penguins despite playing their fifth game in six nights by a final score of 5-2. The game was much closer than the final score but two empty-net goals sealed the deal for the Grizzlies.

In the first period, Utah got in trouble as they were trying to set up for a power play. Mark Wotton mishandled the puck at the Penguin blue line as Penguin forward Matt Murley got enough of the puck to chip it to teammate Alexander Daigle who split the Utah defense and went one on one with Mike Smith giving the Penguins the 1-0 lead. Utah would counter back with a shorthanded goal of their own when Mark Wotton would beat Mike Valley who had just replaced Robbie Tallas.

In the second period both teams struggled to mount any scoring chances early on. Finally, at the 13:18 mark, the Grizzlies displayed one the best offensive plays of the season. From the face-off in the Penguin zone, Greg Hawgood received the puck at the blue line and skated toward the slot at the top of the circle. The Penguin defense began to collapse on the puck and Hawgood dropped the puck to Jim Montgomery at the bottom of the near circle. Montgomery almost immediately blasted a sharp pass across the top of the crease to David Oliver at the far circle and Oliver (8-8-16) one-timed it past Valley, giving the Grizzlies the go-ahead goal, 2-1. With the goal, David Oliver extended his point streak to three games, 4 goals and 1 assist. Utah had 12 shots on net in the period while the Penguins had 7 (25 to 15 total)

In the third period the Grizzlies started where they left off and added a little insurance. At the 2:36 mark Eric Landry battled for the puck deep in the Penguins zone and managed to get it to Marc-Andre Thinel at the side of the net. Thinel shoveled a pass across the goal-mouth to David Gosselin (8-12-20) at the door-step on the near side for the easy put back as Gosselin had half an empty net to work with. Utah went up by two, 3-1.

Midway through the period, Utah began to get a little lazy and also got a little lucky as the Penguins failed to take advantage of a couple scoring chances on the power play. The Penguins made things interesting and eventually made good on the pressure they kept applying to the Grizzlies. At 15:28, Penguin Toby Petersen got credit for tipping a shot from the point by Matt Murley and got the visiting Penguins to within a goal.

But as the period neared its end, Utah would add a couple of empty netters in the last minute of play. Marcus Kristoffersson recorded his 9th goal (9-5-14) of the year with helpers from David Oliver (8-9-17) and Jim Montgomery (18-37-55) with 59 seconds left to play. Then at the 19:42 mark, David Gosselin (9-12-21) recorded his second goal of the game with assists from Barrett Heisten (5-5-10) and Eric Landry (20-24-44), giving Utah a 5-2 victory. The Grizzlies ended with 35 shots on goal verses the Penguins 30.

Three Stars: 1. David Oliver (UT) 1 goal, 1 assist 2. Mark Wotton (UT) 1 goal 3. David Gosselin (UT) 2 goals Next Game: The Grizzlies will face-off against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for the rematch, Friday, February 21. Puck drops at 7:00 PM.

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ECHL Stories from February 19, 2003


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