Miner Earns 4th Shutout of Season as Utah Won 3-0
West Valley City, Utah – Trent Miner saved all 28 shots and the Utah Grizzlies got goals from Andrew Nielsen, Mason Mannek and Matthew Boucher as they defeated the Wichita Thunder 3-0 on Wednesday night at Maverik Center.
Utah outshot Wichita 24 to 5 in the first period. Utah got a 5 on 3 power play for 1 minute 15 seconds and Andrew Nielsen scored 8:31 in to get Utah on the board. Utah went 1 for 4 on the power play. Mason Mannek scored a shorthanded goal 14:35 into the period as he scored his 7th of the year. Utah leads the league with 8 shorthanded goals. Utah led 2-0 after 1 period.
Matthew Boucher scored with 7 seconds left in the 2nd period on a nice pass from Brandon Cutler. Boucher was playing his first game since October 31st and had 1 goal and 1 assist and had 10 shots on goal. Neither team scored in the third period as Trent Miner earns his league leading 4th shutout of the season. Miner now has 5 professional shutouts in only 19 games.
Utah outshot Wichita 52 to 28. The 52 shots were the most by Utah this season. It’s the 5th time that Utah has taken 40 or more shots in a game. With the 2nd period assist Brandon Cutler now has a point in 13 of his last 14 games. For Wichita forward Jay Dickman’s 13 game point streak came to an end. Ben Tardif had 2 assists. Tardif has a point in 4 of his 5 games this season.
Both teams will have Thursday off before meeting for games on 3 straight days on Friday-Sunday. Face-off on Friday night is at 7:10 pm. Tickets are available at utahgrizzlies.com or by calling (801) 988-8000.
3 stars
- Trent Miner (Utah) – 28 save shutout.
- Matthew Boucher (Utah) – 1 goal, 1 assist, +1, 10 shots.
- Mason Mannek (Utah) – 1 goal. +1, 5 shots.