Grizzlies Gameday: Game 3 in Tulsa. Series Tied 1-1

Game 3: Tuesday, April 26, 2022. 6:05 pm. Utah Grizzlies at Tulsa Oilers. Series Tied 1-1.  

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

It’s game 3 of the first round best of 7 series at Tulsa’s BOK Center. Utah went 3-1-1 at Tulsa this season.

#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 – Tulsa 5 Utah 3 – Charle-Edouard D’Astous scored 2 goals. Tarun Fizer scored first pro goal. Tulsa got goals from 5 different skaters. Utah outscored Tulsa 34 to 28. Utah went 2 for 4 on the power play. Tulsa was 1 for 4.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 TulsaGame 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.

Big Time Players Coming Up Big in Postseason

Ben Tardif has 6 points in 2 games this series (1 goal, 5 assists). Tardif had 1 goal and 3 assists in the game 1 win. Tardif had 2 assists in game 2. Ben led Utah with 19 multiple point games. Charle-Edouard D’Astous has also made his presence felt in the first 2 games of the series. Charle has 5 points (3 goals, 2 assists) in 2 games. D’Astous had 1 goal and 2 assists in game 1. He followed it up with 2 first period power play goals in game 2. D’Astous was 2nd on the team with 17 multiple point games.

Captain Trey Bradley has also made an impact in both games. Trey had 2 goals and 2 assists and was the number 1 star of game 1. Bradley had 1 assist in game 2.

4 Grizzlies players have a point in both games this series: Bradley, D’Astous, Taran Fizer and Tardif.

Special Teams Has Played a Big Role in Series

Through 2 games this series Utah is 5 for 11 on the power play and 10 for 11 on the penalty kill. Charle-Edouard D’Astous has a point in all 5 of Utah’s power play goals (3 goals, 2 assists) and that’s not a surprise considering that D’Astous led Utah in power play goals (9), assists (14) and points (23). Ben Tardif has 4 power play assists in 2 games in the series. Trey Bradley has 4 power play points in the series (1 goal, 3 assists). Dylan Fitze has 1 power play goal and Luke Martin has 1 power play assists.

In the regular season Utah was 6 for 28 on the power play vs Tulsa (22.2 %) and was 19 for 23 on the penalty kill (82.6 %).

Fizer and Tsekos Score First Pro Goals in Playoffs

Zach Tsekos scores his first pro goal 9:40 into the third period in game 1 to give Utah a 4-3 lead in a game the Grizz won 6-3. Tsekos 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.

Tarun Fizer scored 9:25 into the second period in game 2 to tie the game 3-3 in a contest the Oilers won 5-3. Fizer is coming off a stellar season with the Victoria Royals in the WHL, where he scored 17 goals and 34 assists in 35 games.

Goaltending in the Series

Peyton Jones got the victory in game 1 as he saved 27 of 30. It was Peyton’s first pro playoff game. 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.

Trent Miner saved 23 of 28 in the game 2 loss. Miner led the league with 7 shutouts and was 1 away from tying the single season league record, set by 3 goalies. Miner is the 11th different goaltender in league history to have at least 7 shutouts in a season.

Grizzlies Have Shot Edge in Series

Utah outshot Tulsa 70 to 58 in the 2 playoff games at Maverik Center. Utah outshot their opponents 33 times in the regular season and had a record of 22-10-0-1 when they had the shot edge. Utah was outshot 36 times and had a record of 18-16-2 in those games. There were 3 times where the shots were even.

It’s not all that common for Tulsa to be outshot in back-to-back games as they were outshot in only 18 of their 72 regular season games.

Grizz Were a Successful Road Team

If the Grizzlies are going to win the first round series over Tulsa they will need to play well at BOK Center. This season Utah was 3-1-1 at Tulsa. Utah went 19-14-2-1 on the road. The 19 wins ties a Grizzlies ECHL era record with the 2010-11 club and is tied for the 3rd most in club history. Utah ended up with the most road wins in the Mountain Division this season.

Most Road Wins in Team History

1999-2000: 23

1995-96: 22 (Turner Cup Champions)

1997-98, 2001-02, 2010-11, 2021-22: 19. (This season is the 4th time Utah has won 19 on the road).

Regular Season Series vs Tulsa

Utah went 4-3-1 vs Tulsa this season. Mason Mannek led Utah with 9 points (4 goals, 5 assists) in 8 games. Luke Martin had 7 assists vs Tulsa. Utah went 1-2 at home vs Tulsa and 3-1-1 at BOK Center, the site of games 3-5. Trent Miner went 2-2 with a 2.42 GAA vs Tulsa this season. Utah was 6 for 27 (22.2 %) on the power play and 19 for 23 (82.6 %) on the penalty kill vs Tulsa.

The Oilers leading scorer vs Utah in the regular season was Jack Doremus, who had 9 points (6 goals, 3 assists). Adam Pleskach had 5 assists vs Utah.

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 (2022 Kelly Cup Playoffs)

Goals: Charle-Edouard D’Astous (3) – D’Astous led Utah with 26 regular season goals.

Assists: Ben Tardif (5) – Tardif led Utah with 39 regular season assists.

Points: Tardif (6) – Tardif led Utah with 59 regular season points.

Plus/Minus: Many tied at 0.

Penalty Minutes: D’Astous (8).

Power Play Points: D’Astous (5)

Power Play Goals: D’Astous (3)

Power Play Assists: Tardif (4)

Shots on Goal: Tarun Fizer (9)

Shooting Percentage: D’Astous (50.0 %) 3 for 6.

Goaltending Wins: Peyton Jones (1)

Save %: Jones (.900)

Goals Against Average: Jones (3.01)

Team Stats (2022 Kelly Cup Playoffs)

Goals For: 9 (4.50 per game)

Goals Against: 8 (4.00 per game)

Goal Differential: +1.

Shots on Goal: 70. 35.0 per game

Shots Against: 58. 29.0 per game.

Power Play: 5 for 11. 45.5 %.

Penalty Kill: 10 for 11. 90.9 %.

Penalty Minutes: 35. 17.50 per game.

Scoring First: Both teams have scored first once in the series. The team that has scored first has won each of the 2 games in the series.