Grizzlies Mighty Power Play Leads to 4-2 Win
Independence, Missouri - The Utah Grizzlies went 4 for 6 on the power play and was a perfect 9 for 9 on the penalty kill to lead them to a 4-2 victory over the Kansas City Mavericks on a Friday night at Cable Dahmer Arena.
Utah got an early 5 on 3 power play and Luka Burzan made it count as he scored on a rebound from a Charle-Edouard D'Astous shot 2:41 in. The Grizz extended the lead as Miles Gendron scored on a 5 on 4 power play 14:27 in. Utah led 2-0 after 1 period, outshooting KC 17 to 8 in the first period.
D'Astous scored on the power play 14:25 into the second period to extend the lead to 3-0. D'Astous ended the night with 1 goal and 2 assists as he came back after missing 3 straight contests. D'Astous has a point in 27 different games this season and leads all league defenseman with 18 goals. Mavericks got on the board with 1:10 left as Mike Lee scored on a wraparound for his 7th of the campaign. Utah led 3-1 after 2 periods. The Grizz are now 21-1 when leading after 2 periods.
Nick Henry scored a 4 on 3 power play goal 10:09 into the third period. Henry was reassigned to Utah from Colorado (AHL) earlier in the day and is now playoff eligible as he has played in 5 games with Utah. Mavericks Loren Ulett ended the scoring with 22 seconds left in regulation.
Utah has now won 5 straight road games. Peyton Jones was stellar in net as he stopped 31 of 33 to earn his 13th win of the season. Jones is 5-1 in his last 6 starts. Mavericks outshot Utah 33 to 28. Kansas City goaltender Matt Greenfield saved 24 of 28.
The Grizzlies are in first place in the Mountain Division with a .639 points percentage. Utah won the first game of a 6 game road trip. Friday night began a stretch where 6 of Utah's next 9 games were against Kansas City.
The series continues on Saturday night in Kansas City at 6:05 pm mountain time. Next homestand for Utah is a 3 game set vs Kansas City on March 9, 11-12. All 3 games start at 7:10 pm. Tickets for every Grizzlies home game are available at utahgrizzlies.com or by calling (801) 988-8000.
3 stars
1. Charle-Edouard D'Astous (Utah) - 1 goal, 2 assists.
2. Nick Henry (Utah) - 1 goal, 1 assist.
3. Ben Tardif (Utah) - 3 assists. Tardif leads Utah with 28 assists this season.
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