Grizzlies Score Season High 9 Goals in Road Victory
Stateline, Nevada – The Utah Grizzlies scored a season-high 9 goals on 22 shots as they defeated the Tahoe Knight Monsters 9-6 on a Wednesday night at Tahoe Blue Event Center.
Luke Antonacci scored 49 seconds into the game to give Utah a 1-0 lead. Reed Lebster extended Utah’s lead as he scored from the right wing 3:41 in. The Grizzlies led 2-0 after 20 minutes of play. Utah is now 8-2-2 when leading after one period on the road this season.
Tahoe got on the board exactly 1 minute into the second period on Devon Paliani’s 21st of the season. Jake Durflinger tied it up 6:10 in. Utah retook the lead on Mike Gelatt’s first as a Grizzly unassisted 8:04 in. Danny Dzhaniyev extended Utah’s lead with his 14th of the campaign 11:40 in. Dzhaniyev led Utah with 1 goal and 4 assists. Tahoe’s Kevin Wall scored 14:15 in. Utah scored on a power play as Evan Friesen redirected an Aiden Hansen-Bukata shot 16:45 in to give the Grizzlies a 5-3 lead.
Utah’s Reilly Connors made it a 6-3 game as he scored 1:04 into the third period. Wall scored his second of the night for Tahoe 3:16 into the third frame. Connors scored his second of the night for Utah 5:24 in. It was a power play goal as Utah went 2 for 2 on the man advantage. Utah’s Noah Ganske scored from the right wing 7:48 in to make it a 8-4 game. Tahoe scored two power play goals in the third period as Jake McGrew 12:35 in and Luke Adam 16:19 in made it a 8-6 contest. Lebster scored an empty net goal for his second of the night and 24th of the season 18:26 in. Utah scored four goals on five shots in the third period as their record goes to 16-23-4 on the season. The Grizzlies are 13-11-2 on the road this season.
Utah’s Dominic Basse stopped 29 of 35 as he picked up his third victory of the season. Jordan Papirny stopped 13 of 21 in the loss for Tahoe.
Reed Lebster now has 14 goals in his last 20 games. Danny Dzhaniyev is second among league rookies with 38 points (14 goals, 24 assists) this season.
The series continues on Friday night at 8:00 pm. The Grizzlies next home game is on February 10 vs Idaho at 7:10 pm. Tickets for every Grizzlies home game are available at utahgrizzlies.com or by calling (801) 988-8000.
3 stars
- Reilly Connors (Utah) – 2 goals, 1 assist, +2, 2 shots.
- Danny Dzhaniyev (Utah) – 1 goal, 4 assists, +2, 5 shots.
- Noah Ganske (Utah) – 1 goal, 1 assist.
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