Grizzlies Preview: Feb. 7 Utah at Idaho

Grizzlies Preview: Utah at Idaho, Feb. 7, 2020

Utah Grizzlies (27-13-7) 61 standings points. .649 Win %. at Idaho Steelheads (25-16-7) 57 standings points. .594 Win %. CenturyLink Arena. Friday February 7, 2020. 7:00 pm MST. ECHL.TV. Classic Country 1370 AM/104.3 FM HD2. cc1370.com

Boise, Idaho – Utah Grizzlies are at CenturyLink Arena for the first of a two game series against the division rival Idaho Steelheads.

Grizzlies are currently 2nd in the Mountain division with 61 standings points. They are 4 points ahead of 3rd place Idaho, who has 57 standings points on the year.

It’s the 7th season meeting between the clubs. 5 of the previous 6 games were 1 goal games. The most recent match-up was on January 20th with Utah winning 2-1 on a Mitch Maxwell shootout game winner. Maxwell has scored the game deciding goal in 3 different shootouts this season, which leads the league. It’s been a great road trip for Maxwell as he has the game winning goal in each of Utah’s last 2 games. He scored with 2:33 left in regulation to give Utah a 5-4 lead at Greenville, where Ty Lewis added the empty net goal to complete the 6-4 win. Maxwell also scored Utah’s 2nd goal with a 2nd period power play goal in a 3-1 win on February 5th at Wichita.

Utah is currently 3-1 on the 9 game, 6 state, 3 week road trip. The Grizz have been strong on the road with a 12-7-3-1 record away from Maverik Center. They have outscored opponents 87 to 69 away from home.

Tim McGauley and Griffen Molino each had 1 goal and 1 assist in the Grizzlies 3-1 win at Wichita 2 nights ago. McGauley leads the league with 40 assists and is 2nd with 58 points and a +33 plus-minus rating. Molino is 2nd on the team with 49 points, 18 goals and 31 assists.

Goaltender Martin Ouellette has won each of his last 2 starts after coming back to the Grizzlies on January 31st from a stint in the AHL. Ouellette is 13-1-2 with Utah after being acquired in a trade with the Atlanta Gladiators.

Idaho is led by forward Marc-Olivier Roy, who has 32 assists and 40 points this season. Captain AJ White is 2nd on the team with 32 points and they still have a great goaltender in Tomas Sholl. He has a record of 19-7-3-2 with a .917 save percentage and a 2.35 goals against average. Steelheads split a recent 2 game series at home against Rapid City.

Face-off is at 7 pm tonight in Boise and can be heard on Classic Country AM 1370 and is streaming on ECHL.TV. Next home game is on February 17th vs Rapid City at 1 pm. After the game join head coach Tim Branham and a few of his friends for an in-house postgame show at Level Crossing Brewing Company at 4:30 pm. Address for Level Crossing Brewing Company is 2496 south West Temple.

2019-2020 Regular Season Totals

Overall record: 27-13-5-2

Home record: 15-6-2-1. Utah has outscored opponents 81 to 61 at home this season.

Road record: 12-7-3-1. Utah is outscoring opponents 87 to 69 on the road this season.

Last 10 games: Utah is 7-2-1.

Goals per game: 3.57 (6th in the league).

Goals against per game: 2.77 (6th). 

Shots per game: 33.11 (9th).

Shots against per game: 27.49 (2nd). 

Power play: 20.6 % (6th).

Penalty Kill: 83.6 % (8th). 

Record When Scoring First: 17-3-1 (.833 win %).