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AHL Utah Grizzlies

Grizzlies Erupt for Four Goals in Third Period; Ground Aeros5-3

November 26, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Utah Grizzlies News Release


HOUSTON, TEXAS- An offensive explosion in the third period for the Utah Grizzlies earned them their second straight road victory Houston versus the Aeros who were tied for first place in the West Division coming into play tonight. Utah used four different goal scorers in the third period to erase a 2-1 Houston lead and take command 4-2 before winning 5-3. David LeNeveu made 39 saves earning his third win of the season.

The Grizzlies put themselves behind the eight ball with penalties late in the period. Rick Berry was already in the penalty box on a tripping call when Matthew Spiller was whistled for a cross checking major penalty against Matt Foy. The five-on-three power play led to Brent Burns fourth goal of the season assisted by Mark Cullen and Zbynek Michalek. The Aeros outshot the Grizzlies 13-6 in the period.

In the second period, the Grizzlies were the recipients of a two-man advantage and they capitalized with a point shot by Keith Ballard that was re-directed by Kiel McLeod past Mike Smith for his third goal of the season, Ballard and Jeff Taffe drew the assists. Houston would answer the call though just as a two-man advantage expired, Cullen would knock home a loose puck at the side of the net regaining the lead for Houston. Rickard Wallin and Kirby Law drew the assists. Houston outshot the Grizzlies 16-10 in the period for a two period total lead of 29-16.

The final 20 minutes saw the Grizzlies erupt for four goals including two by a couple of rookies. Jakub Koreis tied the game for Utah at 4:39 of the period earning his first professional goal. Randall Gelech would follow with his second goal of the season, this one shorthanded giving Utah their first lead of the night. The Grizzlies would add another goal with Fredrik Sjostrom scoring his first goal of the season on a play created by Peter Metcalf who played a strong first game for Utah after being called up from Idaho earlier in the day. Utah would lead 4-2 when Houston was given their eighth power play of the night. They would once again take advantage with Cullen scoring his second goal of the game.

The last seven minutes saw each team battle away but Utah's Gelech created an opportunity with less than a minute remaining freeing Martin Sonnenberg up for an empty net goal, his fourth goal of the season.

Erik Westrum finished the game with a pair of assists for Utah and Gelech finished with his first professional mulit-point game, a goal and an assist. Jarrod Skalde assisted on Sjostrom's goal earning his first point since rejoining the Grizzlies last week.

The Aeros outshot the Grizzlies 42-25 in the game as LeNeveu made 39 saves improving to 3-7 on the year. Smith made 20 saves dropping to 7-3 for the season.

The Grizzlies will play the Aeros again on Sunday at the Toyota Center with face-off scheduled for 4:05 PM (mt).

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