Connors Scores Twice, Friesen Earns First Pro Goal in 5-2 Utah Victory
Rapid City, South Dakota – Reilly Connors scored two goals and Evan Friesen scored his first pro goal and first pro assist to lead the Utah Grizzlies to a 5-2 victory over the Rapid City Rush on Friday night at The Monument.
Luke Manning got Utah on the board 3:46 into the contest as he picked up his 16th goal of the season. Reilly Connors gave Utah a 2-0 lead when he scored 12:01 in. Rapid City’s Billy Constantinou scored his 15th of the year 12:49 in. Utah led 2-1 after 20 minutes of play.
Connors scored his second goal of the night 2:07 into the second period to extend Utah’s lead to 3-1. It is his second career two goal game. Utah led 3-1 after 2 frames.
Keaton Mastrodonato extended Utah’s lead as he tipped a Garrett Pyke shot 9:53 into the third period. Mastrodonato now has 19 goals and 29 assists in 52 games with Utah this season. The Rush got back on the board on a Jonathan Yantsis goal 10:40 in. Evan Friesen scored his first pro goal 16:34 in with Briley Wood and Luke Manning getting the assists. Manning had 1 goal and 1 assist in the victory. Wood picked up his 27th assist of the campaign. Wood and Friesen were teammates with the WHL’s Wenatchee Wild during the 2023-24 season.
Reed Lebster and Garrett Pyke each had 2 assists for Utah in the victory as they picked up their 24th victory of the season. Jake Barczewski was solid in net for Utah as he stopped 33 of 35 to earn his team leading 15th win of the season. Rapid City’s Matt Radomsky stopped 32 of 37 in the loss.
Keaton Mastrodonato had 1 goal and was a +3 in his 100th career ECHL game. Derek Daschke had 1 assist and led Utah with 6 shots on goal as he earned his 100th professional point. Daschke has 33 goals and 67 assists in 148 pro games. Daschke was named first team All-ECHL on April 10.
Reed Lebster, Luke LaMaster, Keaton Mastrodonato and Garrett Pyke were each a +3 for Utah in the victory.
Utah was 0 for 2 on the power play, Rapid City was 0 for 1.
The rubber match of the series and the 72nd and final game of the 2024-25 season will be on Saturday night at 7:05 pm at The Monument.
3 stars
Reilly Connors (Utah) - 2 goals, +2, 4 shots.
Jake Barczewski (Utah) - 33 of 35 saves.
Evan Friesen (Utah) - 1 goal, 1 assist.
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