Game Day - Utah Grizzlies vs Las Vegas Wranglers

There seems to be a shortage of games this week, and nothing at home for the Grizzlies. Hopefully you've already pulled out your Costco card and picked up your rations to make it through the famine. ($2.50 off a giant tub of cookie dough with coupon until the end of the month.) They'll make up for it next week, when they have 4 home games in 5 days. But for now, there's only one game, and it's tonight in Vegas, baby.

The Las Vegas Wranglers currently lead the Western Conference by 4 points. The Grizzlies are in 2nd... still. Utah has its next three games against, Vegas while the Wranglers have a couple of games this weekend against Victoria sandwiched in the middle. So again, the Wranglers come out with the upper hand, having more chances to get points than Utah. That makes these games against Vegas all the more important. The Grizzlies can't just worry about earning points, they've got to be about keeping Las Vegas from getting them. NO OVERTIME!!! Just our suggestion.

Another suggestion would be to not let the Wranglers score first. They have a record of 21-3-3 when they get the first goal in a game. This is kind of a weird statistic and we don't really know what it means, but they always report so it must be important. We are all for getting the first goal anyway. Or not letting your opponent score first. Either way works for us.

We know that Andrew Engelage has been stellar in net for the Grizzlies, and again earned Goalie of the Week honors, but Las Vegas recently got Michael Ouzas back from Peoria. Oddly enough, this is where Utah just sent captain Jake Gannon. We're kind of confused about this, but then again, we're confused about most things to do with moving players around, so everything is status quo. Anyway, Ouzas is currently ranked 6th in the league in GAA (goals against average). Engelage is 3rd in that statistic. We're thinking that last meeting between the two where Engelage got a shutout and Ouzas gave up 5 goals may have had something to do with that. We'd like to see a repeat performance. However, we think Vegas might still remember that, and might possibly be ticked, so we'll settle for a win. In regulation.

The Grizzlies will get Paul Crowder back in the lineup tonight. This is perfect timing - before he went out with injuries, he had two goals and two assists in two games against the Wranglers in November. It would be great if he picked up right where he left off. We're sure Timmy will be happy to see Paulie back in the game. Especially if they're also roommates, because having to watch your brother play while you can't has got to make a guy kind of cranky.

Only game of the week tonight. Puck drops at 8:05 pm. Hang with Adrian Denny on 1230 KFAN while you inventory your toilet paper and cookie dough.