Grizzlies win 6-4 at Greenville

Grizzlies Win 6-4 at Greenville

Greenville, South Carolina – Mitch Maxwell scored the game winning goal on a deflection with 2:33 left in regulation and Ty Lewis added an empty netter with 1:35 left to turn a 4-4 tie into a 6-4 Utah Grizzlies victory over the Greenville Swamp Rabbits on Saturday night at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.

Grizzlies scored 4 goals in the first period as Jack Jenkins made it 1-0 on a bounce off the end wall on a Ty Lewis shot and backhanded it for the goal 5:12 in. Former Swamp Rabbit defenseman JC Brassard gave Utah a 2-0 lead 7:21 in. Brandon Saigeon scored with 2:16 left in the third to make it 3-0 and Griffen Molino got a centering pass and put it away for his 17th of the season with 49 seconds left in the first period as it was 4-0 Utah.

Former Grizzly forward Michael Pelech scored on a deflection with 29 seconds left to get Greenville on the board and give them some momentum heading to the locker room. Swamp Rabbits Jake Horton scored 11 seconds into the second. They made it a 4-3 Utah lead as Karl El-Mir got his 7th of the year 9:49 into the second and 1:06 later Kamerin Nault tied the game.

It stayed a 4-4 tie for the next period and a half as Utah goaltender Martin Ouellette shut out Greenville for the last 29 minutes to secure the victory in his first game back after a stint in the AHL.

Late in the third period Yuri Terao skated from the corner to the left point and fired a wrist shot that was deflected by Maxwell to give Utah the lead. Utah has gone 2-1 in the first 3 games of the road trip. Tonight was the final game against non division opponents for the Grizzlies, who are 8-2-1 in their last 11 games.

Next Grizzlies game is on Wednesday, February 5th at Wichita. Face-off is at 6:00 pm. Next home game is on February 17th vs Rapid City for a 1 pm face-off.

3 stars

1. Mitch Maxwell (Utah) – GWG with 2:33 left.
2. Jake Horton (Greenville) – 1 goal, 2 assists.
3. Michael Pelech (Greenville) – 1 goal, 1 assist.