Grizzlies Fall 7-6 in Overtime at Wichita
Wichita, Kansas – The Utah Grizzlies lose a wild 7-6 game to the Wichita Thunder as Michal Stinil scored a power play game winner 4:17 into overtime. Utah was led by two goals from Danny Dzhaniyev and John Gelatt.
Kyle Crnkovic scored a power play goal 4:22 into the contest to give Wichita a 1-0 lead. Danny Dzhaniyev tied it up 16:42 on a shot from the left wing. Tyler Gratton scored a power play goal from near the right goal line 17:54 to give the Grizzlies a 2-1 lead.
Crnkovic scored his second goal of the night 2:14 into the second period. Utah got an unassisted goal from John Gelatt 2:34 in to take a 3-2 lead. Dzhaniyev delivered his second goal of the night 6:58 in. Just 54 seconds later Utah’s Reilly Connors scored to make it a 5-2 game. Wichita switched goalies after the Connors goal as Roddy Ross, who stopped 11 of 16, was replaced by Tyriq Outen, who saved 11 of 12 in the final 36:03 of the contest. Crnkovic completed the hat trick with his third goal of the night 8:05 into the second period. It is his first career hat trick. Utah led 5-3 after 40 minutes of play.
Declan Smith scored for Wichita 5:06 into the third period to make it a 5-4 game. Spencer Blackwell tied it up on a Jay Dickman pass 7:08 in. Utah regained the lead on Gelatt’s second goal of the night 10:59 in. Thunder tied it up just 29 seconds later on Kirby Proctor’s 5th of the campaign
In overtime the Thunder got a power play on a Tyler Gratton hooking penalty. Stinil scored on a one-timer from a Crnkovic feed to give Wichita the win as their record goes to 12-11-3-2 on the season. Utah’s record falls to 13-13-3.
Dominic Basse made his Grizzlies debut in net, and he stopped 31 of 38. Utah was 1 for 3 on the power play, Wichita was 2 for 6.
Robbie Stucker had 1 assist and was a +3 for Utah. Maxim Barbashev, Christophe Fillion, Noah Ganske and John Gelatt were each a +2 for the Grizzlies, who have scored 30 goals in their last 6 games.
The rubber match of the three-game series is on Saturday night at 5:05 pm mountain time.
3 stars
- Kyle Crnkovic (Wichita) – 3 goals, 2 assists, +2, 5 shots.
- Michal Stinil (Wichita) – 1 goal, 3 assists, +1, 12 shots.
- Reilly Connors (Utah) – 1 goal.
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