Grizzlies Gameday: D'Astous, Martin and Jones Return to Club for Series Finale

Grizzlies Gameday: Series Finale in the Black Hills

Utah Grizzlies (18-10-1, 37 points, .638 Win %) at Rapid City Rush (13-12-2-2, 30 points, .517 Win %)

Saturday, January 1, 2022. The Monument. 7:05 pm. Broadcast: Mixlr/FloSports

It’s the final game in the Black Hills. It’s the 5th of 12 regular season meetings between the clubs. Utah is 3-2 vs Rapid City this season. Utah has won 7 of their last 9 games, outscoring opponents 31 to 19. The Grizz are in first place in the Mountain Division with a .638 winning percentage and their 37 standings points are the most in the Western Conference and only 1 point short of Jacksonville for the league lead. Watch out for captain Trey Bradley, who has 6 goals in his last 6 games. It’s the 2nd game in back-to-back days and Utah is 10-3-1 with 0 days rest.

Last Game (Dec. 31, 2021) Rapid City 3 Utah 1: Power Play Leads to Rush Win

Rapid City went 3 for 7 on the power play as they defeated Utah 3-1 on New Year’s Eve. Christian Simeone got on the board 18:27 in from Quinn Ryan and Luka Burzan. Rush got a 5 on 3 power play in 2 different instances in the 2nd period. Utah killed off the first 5 on 3 from 4:49 into the second to 6:49. The Rush got on the board on the second 5 on 3 in the period as Alec Butcher scored his 9th of the year. Early in the 3rd period RC took a lead for good 1:03 into the third. Goaltender Cole Kehler saved 29 of 32 in his Grizzlies debut.

Today’s Transactions: D’Astous, Martin and Jones Reassigned to Utah

Defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous, Luke Martin and goaltender Peyton Jones were each reassigned to the Grizzlies from the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. D’Astous leads all league defenseman with 12 goals. He leads Utah with 8 power play points (4 goals, 4 assists). He is tied for 2nd on the club with Trey Bradley and Andrew Nielsen with 21 points. Martin has 16 points (4 goals, 12 assists) in 23 games for Utah. Peyton Jones went 3-0 with a .920 save % and a 3.00 GAA in 4 games in December for Utah. Jones appeared in 1 game with Colorado on December 29th and saved 30 of 33 in a 3-2 overtime loss vs Iowa.

Recent Transactions

Charle-Edouard D’Astous, Luke Martin and Peyton Jones – Reassigned to Utah on Jan. 1, 2022.

Cole Kehler – Acquired via Trade with Cincinnati on Dec. 30, 2021.

Garrett Metcalf – Loaned to Lehigh Valley on Dec. 28, 2021.

Hayden Stewart – Signed by Utah on Dec. 28, 2021.

Ryan Orgel – Signed by Utah on Dec. 26, 2021. Orgel has played in all 3 games in Rapid City series.

• Does not include EBUG’s.

Utah vs Rapid City Series

Utah is 18-4-2-1 in their last 25 meetings with Rapid City. Trey Bradley has 8 points in 5 games vs the Rush this season (4 goals, 4 assists). Utah is 3-2 vs RC this season.

November 5, 2021 – Rapid City 2 Utah 5 – Trey Bradley 1 goal, 2 assists. Neil Robinson scored first pro goal 2:53 into the 3rd period to break a 2-2 tie. Brian Bowen and Robinson each had 1 goal and 1 assist. Brandon Cutler and Andrew Nielsen added goals in the win. Luke Martin had 2 assists and was a +3. Peyton Jones saved 25 of 25 to earn his 2nd win of the season.

November 6, 2021 – Rapid City 3 Utah 4 – Utah got goals from Luke Martin, Charle-Edouard D’Astous, Brandon Cutler and Quinn Ryan. Utah outshot Rapid City 40 to 23. RC went 1 for 1 on the power play and Utah was 1 for 2. Peyton Jones saved 20 of 23 in the win.

December 27, 2021 – Utah 0 Rapid City 3 – Utah outshot RC 46 to 31. Luka Burzan had 10 shots. Matthew Boucher had 8 shots. Andrew Nielsen had 6 shots. Garrett Metcalf saved 28 of 30. Rapid City’s Lukas Parik saved all 46.

December 29, 2021 – Utah 4 Rapid City 3 (Overtime) – Trey Bradley 3 goals. Ben Tardif 2 assists. Mason Mannek 1 goal. Luka Burzan game winning assist. Brady Devries saves 18 of 21 in his pro debut.

December 31, 2021 – Utah 1 Rapid City 3 – Christian Simeone scored Utah’s lone goal. Rapid City went 3 for 7 on power play, Utah was 0 for 3.

December Recap

Utah went 8-5 in 13 December games. Ben Tardif led Utah with 13 points in 11 games (2 goals, 11 assists, +4). Andrew Nielsen had 10 points in 12 December games (3 goals, 7 assists, +8). Trey Bradley led Utah with 6 goals in the month. Brandon Cutler had 9 points, including 7 assists in December. Connor McDonald had the best plus/minus on the club at +12 in 12 December games. Trent Miner had 2 shutouts in December (Dec. 6 vs Kalamazoo and Dec. 15 vs Wichita). There were 4 different goaltenders who won a game for Utah in the final month of 2021 (Miner, Peyton Jones, Garrett Metcalf and Brady Devries). Jones went 3-0 in 4 December games with a .920 save % and a 3.00 GAA.

2021 Calendar Year by the Numbers

Utah went 51-35-6-6 in 98 regular season games in the 2021 calendar year. Utah had a .582 winning percentage in 2021. Matthew Boucher won the 2020-21 league Rookie of the Year award. There were 11 goaltenders who appeared in at least 1 game for Utah.

Team Leaders in 2021

Games: Trey Bradley (85).

Points: Matthew Boucher (70). Trey Bradley had 69 points in 2021. Tied for 3rd was AJ White and Cedric Pare with 40.

Goals: Matthew Boucher (34). Charlie Gerard was 2nd with 19.

Assists: Trey Bradley (51). Matthew Boucher was 2nd with 36.

Plus/Minus: Matthew Boucher/Andrew Nielsen (+13). 4 tied at +12 (Brandon Cutler, Charle-Edouard D’Astous, Luke Martin and Tyler Penner).

Goaltender Wins: Peyton Jones (13).

Goals Against Average: Garrett Metcalf (2.15).

Minutes: Peyton Jones (1453).

Losses: Jones/Kevin Carr (8).

Save %: Garrett Metcalf/Parker Gahagen (.922).

Shutouts: Trent Miner (4).

Grizzlies Among League Leaders

Brandon Cutler leads all rookies with 27 points and 17 assists. Cutler is 2nd among rookies with 89 shots on goal and is 3rd among first year pros in plus/minus (+15). Trent Miner leads the league with 4 shutouts. Ben Tardif leads the league with 3 shorthanded assists and is 2nd with 4 shorthanded points. Charle-Edouard D’Astous (Back after a stint in the AHL) leads all league defenseman with 12 goals.

Next Week’s Games

Utah at Idaho – January 5, 2022. 7:10 pm. Idaho Central Arena.

Utah at Idaho – January 7, 2022. 7:10 pm. Idaho Central Arena.

Utah at Idaho – January 8, 2022. 7:10 pm. Idaho Central Arena.

This Week’s Games

Monday, December 27, 2021 – Utah 0 Rapid City 3 – Utah’s 6 game win streak ends.

Wednesday, December 29, 2021 – Utah 4 Rapid City 3 – Utah has won 7 of their last 8 games.

Friday, December 31, 2021 – Utah 1 Rapid City 3 -

Saturday, January 1, 2022 – Utah at Rapid City.

All times Mountain. Every game can be seen on FloHockey and heard on Mixlr.

Grizzlies Roster

Forwards: Matthew Boucher, Brian Bowen, Trey Bradley, Luka Burzan, Taylor Crunk, Brandon Cutler, Mason Mannek, Tyler Penner, Zac Robbins, Neil Robinson, Quinn Ryan, Gehrett Sargis, Christian Simone, Benjamin Tardif.

Defenseman: Joey Colatarci, Austin Crossley, Charle-Edouard D’Astous, Miles Gendron, Luke Martin, Connor McDonald, Andrew Nielsen, Ryan Orgel, Kyle Pouncy, Jordon Stone.

Goaltenders: Peyton Jones, Cole Kehler, Hayden Stewart.   

2021-2022 Utah Grizzlies Regular Season Totals (league rankings)

Overall record: 18-10-1

Home record: 10-4. Utah has outscored opponents 52 to 32 at home.

Road record: 8-6-1

Win percentage: .638. Best win % in Mountain Division.

Streak: Lost 1. Utah has won 7 of their last 9 games.

Standings Points: 37. The most standings points by any team in the Western Conference.

Last 10: 7-3.

Goals per game: 3.45 (6th) Goals for: 100.

Goals against per game: 2.83 (8th) Goals Against: 82.

Shots per game: 33.07 (6th)

Shots against per game: 30.86 (13th)   

Power Play: 16 for 89 – 18.0 % (15th)  

Penalty Kill: 94 for 122- 77.0 % (22nd)

Penalty Minutes: 447. 15.41 per game.

Shorthanded Goals: 10 (1st). Brandon Cutler has 3 shorthanded goals.

Shorthanded Goals Allowed: 1. – Utah was the last team to allow a shorthanded goal this season.

Record When Scoring First: 9-5. Utah has scored first in 14 of 29 games this season.

Team Leaders (2021-22 season)

Goals: Charle-Edouard D’Astous (12)

Assists: Brandon Cutler (17)

Points: Cutler (27)

Plus/Minus: Cutler (+15)

PIM: Andrew Nielsen (79)

Power Play Points: D’Astous (8)

Power Play Goals: D’Astous (4)

Power Play Assists: D’Astous/Luke Martin/Cutler/Bradley (4).

Shots on Goal: Brian Bowen (96)

Shooting Percentage: Quinn Ryan (7 for 36). 19.4 %. – Minimum 35 shots.

Game Winning Goals: Brian Bowen/D’Astous/Ryan/Tyler Penner (2).

Wins: Peyton Jones/Trent Miner (7).

Save %: Garrett Metcalf (.932).

Goals Against Average: Garrett Metcalf (1.84)

Active Streaks (2021-2022 Season)

Goal Streaks: Charle-Edouard D’Astous, Christian Simeone (1).

Assist Streaks: Brandon Cutler (4) Luka Burzan (2) Luke Martin, Quinn Ryan, (1).

Point Streaks of 2 or more: Cutler (7) Burzan (2).

Brandon Cutler has a point in 16 of his last 17 games. Cutler has 1 scoreless game since November 1st.  Cutler has 19 different games where he’s scored a point. Cutler has missed the last 3 games.  

Matthew Boucher has 2 or more points in 5 of his last 8 games.  Boucher missed 16 games for Utah due to an injury from Nov.5 – Dec. 12. Boucher had a 7 game assist streak end on December 19th but he scored 2 goals in that same game. Boucher has missed the last 2 games for Utah.  

Trey Bradley has a point in 10 of his last 13 games, including 7 multiple point games. Bradley has 6 goals in his last 6 games.

Andrew Nielsen has a point in 8 of 12 games in December.  

Mason Mannek has a point in 6 of his last 10 games.

Kyle Pouncy has a point in 6 of his last 9 games (3 goals, 3 assist). Pouncy is a +5 in his last 8 games.

Ben Tardif has 2 or more points in 6 of his last 10 games. Tardif has a point in 7 of his 11 games with Utah.

Luka Burzan has a point in 6 of his last 8 games (3 goals, 6 assists).