Grizzlies Gameday: Game 2 of First Round Series

Game 2: Saturday, April 23, 2022. Tulsa Oilers at Utah Grizzlies. Utah leads series 1-0.

Broadcast: https://mixlr.com/utah-grizzlies-hockey/FloHockey

#1 Utah Grizzlies (42-27-3) vs. #4 Tulsa Oilers (36-30-6)Game 1 – Tulsa 3 Utah 6 – Trey Bradley 2 goals, 2 assists. Ben Tardif 1 goal, 3 assists. Charle-Edouard D’Astous 1 goal 2 assists. Zach Tsekos scored first pro goal 9:40 into the third period. That tally turned out to be the game winner. Peyton Jones saved 27 of 30. Utah was 3 for 7 on the power play and scored a shorthanded goal. The Grizz were 7 for 7 on the penalty kill. Tulsa got goals from Alex Gilmour, Joe Garreffa and Jackson Leef. Utah outshot Tulsa 36 to 30.Game 2 – Saturday, April 23 at 7:10 p.m. MT Tulsa at Utah.Game 3 – Tuesday, April 26 at 6:05 p.m. Utah at TulsaGame 4 – Wednesday, April 27 at 6:05 p.m. Utah at TulsaGame 5 – Thursday, April 28 at 6:05 p.m. Utah at Tulsa (If Necessary)Game 6 – Monday, May 2 at 7:10 p.m. Tulsa at Utah (If Necessary)Game 7 – Wednesday, May 4 at 7:10 p.m. Tulsa at Utah (If Necessary)

All Times Mountain.

Special Teams Were Indeed Special in Utah’s Game 1 Win

The Grizz went 3 for 7 on the power play and was a perfect 7 for 7 on the penalty kill. Utah also scored a shorthanded goal as Ben Tardif found the back of the net with 1:01 left in the first period. This season the Grizzlies went 6 for 27 on the power play vs Tulsa (22.2 %). Utah was 19 for 23 on the penalty kill (82.6 %) vs the Oilers.

In the regular season Utah’s power play was 17.2 percent, which was tied for 21st and the penalty kill was tied for 24th in the league at 77.8 %. Tulsa’s power play was tied for 19th this season at 17.7 percent. The Oilers penalty kill was 7th at 83.7 %.

Zach Tsekos Scored First Pro Goal

Tsekos gave Utah a 4-3 lead when he scored 9:40 into the third period, a goal that turned out to be the game winner. It was Tsekos first pro goal. He appeared in 3 regular season games with Utah where he had 1 assist. Scoring goals is nothing new for Tsekos, who had 15 goals and 16 assists in 35 games this season for Clarkson University.

Peyton Jones Gets a Playoff Win

Peyton Jones got the victory in net for Utah as he saved 27 of 30. Jones at times has been stellar for the Grizzlies. He had a 9 game stretch from the end of January to the start of March where he had a .939 save percentage and a 2.35 goals against average. Peyton led the Grizzlies with 17 wins this season. In 50 games with Utah over the last 2 seasons the Penn State product has a 25-15-4 record with a .898 save percentage and a 3.21 goals against average.

Mountain Division Champions

The Grizz won their first ever division championship and finished with a bang as they won 4 of their last 5 games.

Grizzlies Playoff Drought Ended in Game 1

The game 1 win over Tulsa broke a Grizzlies 7 game playoff losing streak. Utah won game 1 at Idaho 7-1 in the 2019 playoffs and proceeded to lose 4 straight overtime games. The win also broke a 10-game home playoff losing streak, dating back to April 23, 2016 when Utah defeated Colorado 7-2 in game 4 of a best of 7 first round series. In that game Charles Sarault scored 3 goals and Ryan Hayes, Phil Pietroniro and Alex Krushelnyski each had 1 goal and 1 assist. Current Grizzlies assistant coach Teigan Zahn played for Colorado that night and was a -1 and had 1 shot. 1 of the 2 Colorado goals was scored by current Idaho Steelheads head coach Everett Sheen.

Grizzlies Pro Playoff Experience

There are 6 Grizzlies players with previous professional playoff experience heading into the quest for the 2022 Kelly Cup.

Trey Bradley – 3 games with Utah in 2021. Bradley had 1 goal and 1 assist vs Allen.

Luka Burzan – 1 game with Colorado (AHL) in 2021.

Dylan Fitze – 9 games with Orlando in 2019. Fitze had 2 assists.

Miles Gendron – 3 games with Utah in 2021.

Nick Henry – 2 games with Colorado (AHL) in 2019.

Luke Martin – 8 games with Greenville in 2021. Martin had 2 assists

Grizzlies Roster

Forwards: Kyle Betts,Trey Bradley, Luka Burzan, Dylan Fitze, Tarun Fizer, Nick Henry, Mason Mannek, Tyler Penner, Dakota Raabe, Benjamin Tardif, Zach Tsekos, Johnny Walker.

Defenseman: Nate Clurman,Joey Colatarci, Austin Crossley, Charle-Edouard D’Astous, Miles Gendron, Luke Martin, Connor McDonald, Kyle Pouncy, James Shearer.

Goaltenders: Peyton Jones,Trent Miner, Thomas Sigouin.

Team Leaders (2021-22 season)

Games: Mason Mannek/Tyler Penner (72).

Goals: Charle-Edouard D’Astous (26). – Most by Grizzlies defenseman in a single season.

Assists: Ben Tardif (39)

Points: Tardif (59)

Plus/Minus: Luke Martin (+23)

PIM: Andrew Nielsen (114) Mason Mannek led active Grizzlies with 102.

Power Play Points: D’Astous (23)

Power Play Goals: D’Astous (9)

Power Play Assists: D’Astous (14).

Shorthanded Goals: Trey Bradley/Matthew Boucher/Tardif (4)

Shots on Goal: Brian Bowen (201)

Shooting Percentage: Bradley (18 for 113). 15.9 %. – Minimum 100 shots.

Game Winning Goals: D’Astous (7).

Wins: Peyton Jones (17).

Save %: Garrett Metcalf (.918).

Goals Against Average: Metcalf (2.63)

Shutouts: Trent Miner (7) – Broke Grizzlies Single Season Shutout Record.

Minutes: Jones (1729)

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

Overall record: 42-27-2-1

Home record: 23-13. Utah outscored opponents 130 to 107 at home.

Road record: 19-14-2-1. – Most Grizz road wins since the 2010-11 season.

Win percentage: .604. Mountain Division Champions.

Streak: Won 3.

Standings Points: 87. 

Last 10: 6-4.

Goals per game: 3.33 (Tied 9th) Goals for: 240.

Goals against per game: 3.13 (Tied 10th) Goals Against: 225.

Goal Differential: + 15. Best goal differential in the Mountain Division.

Shots per game: 31.86 (11th)

Shots against per game: 32.08 (16th)  

Power Play: 39 for 227 – 17.2 % (Tied 21st)

Penalty Kill: 217 for 279- 77.8 % (Tied 24th)

Penalty Minutes: 959. 13.32 per game.

Shorthanded Goals: 20 – Led League.

Shorthanded Goals Allowed: 10.

Record When Scoring First: 22-9-0-1. Utah has scored first in 32 of 72 games this season. Utah went 20-18-2 when the opposition scores first.

Record in One Goal Games: 15-7-2-1. 25 of the 72 games were decided by 1. 20 games were decided by 2. Utah went 12-8 in 2 goal games. 

Grizzlies Ironmen

Multiple Point games (2021-2022)

19: Ben Tardif

17: Charle-Edouard D’Astous

15: Trey Bradley

11: Luke Martin

10: Brian Bowen, Mason Mannek.

7: Luka Burzan

6: Matthew Boucher,Brandon Cutler. Andrew Nielsen.

5: Tyler Penner.

4: Miles Gendron.

3: Gehrett Sargis.

2: Nate Clurman, Dakota Raabe, James Shearer, Christian Simeone.

1: Neil Robinson, Bailey Conger, Zac Robbins, Quinn Ryan, Connor McDonald, Nick Henry, Joey Colatarci. Keaton Jameson. Dylan Fitze.

Grizz Hung Out with the Shorties

Utah led the league with 20 shorthanded goals this season. Tulsa allowed 11 shorthanded goals this year.