For some reason, we've almost become more comfortable with the opposition scoring first as we've entered the last half of the season. Either way, the Grizzlies picked up the win and evened the series before returning to Utah.Las Vegas took an early lead 2:29 into the 1st with a 5-on-5 goal. The Grizzlies came back to tie things about 4 minutes later, then added a Sixsmith shorthanded goal before the end of the period, 2-1. The 2nd saw no scoring from either team, even though Utah was awarded a penalty shot early into the period and the Wranglers had 3 power play chances to respond.
AJ Perry increased the Grizzlies lead 3:58 into the 3rd on the power play, then Crowder picked up an empty netter at the bottom of the period to end the game 4-1 in Utah's favor.
From the official post game:
The Utah Grizzlies scored four unanswered goals to defeat the Las Vegas Wranglers 4-1 Wednesday night at the Orleans Arena. The win evens up the 2-3 best-of-five series at one headed back to the E-Center for game three Saturday at 7:05 p.m. [utahgrizzlies.com]
post game || Grizzlies Even Series With 4-1 Win
highlights || Game Highlights 4/7/10 at Las Vegas
gamesheet || Utah at Las Vegas - 4/7/10
interview || James Sixsmith 4/7/10 intermission
blog || Adrian Denny's game day blog
Scoring Summary:
LV K. Hagel (3), 2:29 1st period (Neiszner); Wranglers 1, Grizzlies 0
UTA P. Vandermeer (1), 6:16 1st period (MacMillan); Wranglers 1, Grizzlies 1
UTA J. Sixsmith (1), 14:24 1st period; Wranglers 1, Grizzlies 2
UTA A. Perry (1), 3:58 3rd period (Hunter, Wilson); Wranglers 1, Grizzlies 3
UTA T. Crowder (2), EN 18:09 3rd period; Wranglers 1, Grizzlies 4
What Worked Well: Penalty Kill
The boys went 0 for 6 on the penalty kill, and while we would have loved to see them stay out of the box just a tad bit more, Utah's PK worked wonders and even picked up a Sixsmith shorthanded goal. Nicely done.
What Could Have Worked Better: Power Play
We really don't think there's a lot to improve on here. We'd just like to see them score on the next 5-on-3 chance they get. They were still able to convert at 25% last night, so again we're not too worried.
Who Made the Difference: Mikko Koskinen
While we don't want to overshadow the impact of Sixsmith and the constant drive and force that is MacMillan, we wanted to give a shout out to Koskinen for his brilliant comeback. Stopping 33 of 34 and picking up the first star of the game, Mikko was solid in net when the Grizzlies needed it most.
Stars of the Game:
1. UTA - M. Koskinen
2. UTA - J. Sixsmith
3. LV - K. Hagel
Additional Notes:
> Dylan Hunter continues his scoring streak - we're thinking it's 15 games or so now.
> Mikko Koskinen stopped 33 of 34 shots he saw during the match.
> The win by Utah makes Game 4 a necessity. Go Grizzlies!
4 comments:
where is captain k? last year in the playoffs he also laid an egg. 0 points. if you remember it was 6smith and valdy that did all the damage. i hope he wakes up. we need him. maybe he is busy reading all his press clippings, which mean nothing at this time of year. put up or shut up.
Trade Kinasewich!
Just kidding. Not having seen either game in Vegas myself, I don't know what happened. Last year I remember he made a suprise comeback from a supposed season ending injury, so maybe he wasn't 100%. Maybe the fact that he is one of the top scorers in the ECHL makes other teams defend him more aggressively. If it means some other Grizzly is open and scoring, he's still helping the team in my opinion. This time of year, it's all about the win.
In the 1st period of Game 1 he showed up, but so did everyone else. I honestly wasn't impressed with anyone other than Sixsmith and MacMillan for the other 2 periods of that game.
I honestly didn't notice him in Game 2, which typically isn't a good sign . . . I don't know if the Vegas defense is all over him because of his record or what the deal is. I'd like to see another game from him like the first one in the last series in Victoria.
In my opinion he shouldn't have been playing in the playoffs last year, period. You could see his timing was off and he was still tentative from his injury. That's why they call it a season ending injury. Though, last year's playoffs was the first time I'd ever seen him kicked out of a game for unsportsmanlike conduct, so new experience for me!
Looks like shutting down Kinasewich is a big part of the Vegas strategy after all.
http://www.lvrj.com/sports/wranglers--top-line-struggling-90463939.html
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