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ECHL Utah Grizzlies

Grizzlies Rally From Down 5-1 To Take Series Lead

May 2, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Utah Grizzlies News Release


West Valley City, Utah - The Utah Grizzlies scored six unanswered goals, rallying from a 5-1 deficit late in the second period, and defeated the Victoria Salmon Kings 7-5 Thursday night at the E-Center to take a two games to one series lead in the semifinal series in the ECHL's National Conference.

Ryan Kinasewich added a hat trick for Utah with three goals and one assist. Goaltender Mike Mole entered in the second period with Utah trailing 4-1 and stopped 13 of 14 shots for his first win of the playoffs.

Utah never led in the game until the seven-minute mark of the third period when Micheal Haley pounded home a puck in front of the net and Utah went up 6-5. Keith Johnson and Andrew MacDonald setup Ryan Kinasewich in the final minute for an empty-net goal to complete his hat trick and seal the 7-5 win for Utah.

Trailing 5-1, Johnson started Utah's eruption taking a setup from James Sanford after Tyler Haskins won a face-off and made the game 5-2 with 1:26 left in the second period. 1:11 later, Keith Johnson picked up a puck in the neutral zone and fed Ryan Kinasewich skating in to make the game 5-3 at the second intermission.

Utah scored two goals in 14 seconds from 2:20 of the third to 2:34 to tie the game at five and complete the comeback. James Sanford scored first than Johnson seven seconds into a power-play.

Victoria scored all of their goals in the first 25:27 of the game to build their 5-1 lead. Utah made it 2-1 at the first intermission off of a Kinasewich goal. The Salmon Kings scored three goals in the first 5:27 of the second to make the game 5-1. Utah Head Coach Jason Christie replaced goaltender Nathan Lawson with Mike Mole after the fourth Victoria goal and the Salmon Kings promptly scored 39 seconds later on their first shot on Mole to make the game 5-1.

The line of Kinasewich (three goals, one assist), Haskins (three assists) and Johnson (two goals, two assists) combined for 11 points in the game. They were on the ice for five of Utah's seven goals.

Utah outshot Victoria 16-7 in the third period to take control of the game. Each team scored a power-play goal in the contest.

The series resumes Saturday at 7:05 p.m. at the E-Center. Game five is scheduled for the E-Center Sunday at 4:05 p.m.

Game Notes

The four-goal comeback by Utah was their largest of the year. Utah trailed 3-0 and rallied for a 4-3 triple overtime win April 14 at Fresno in game two of the first round.

The winning team in each game in this series has completed the game with six-straight goals.

Utah has now won two-straight games at the E-Center for the first time since January 31 and February 1 when they won two-straight from Alaska.

Ryan Kinasewich's stepsister Olivia Richardson sang both the Canadian and American National Anthems prior to the game.

Check out the Utah Grizzlies Statistics



ECHL Stories from May 2, 2008


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