In game two of the road trip, the roster remained the same, with the exception of the goalies, as Kevin Carr got his first start of the year. The lines did see a slight reconfiguration, as Matt Berry moved onto the line with Ryan Misiak and Tim McGauley, while Austin Carroll took his place with Brendan Harms and Ryan Walters.
Idaho came out hot, drawing the a power play less than a minute in. Utah killed it off well though, Carr making the two necessary saves. Things calmed down for a bit, until Caleb Herbert flew into the offensive zone, split the D, and then scored on a gorgeous backhander to make it 1-0.
Harms got a look alone as well, but passed back to Carroll, who was unable to get off a shot.
The Grizzlies picked up a power play at 10:06, and the potent first unit pounced again, making it 2-0 half way through the period. Utah got another power play at 15:22, but weren’t able to pick up another goal.
The first period ended with a big crowd as Berry took exception to a hit, and Carroll and Taylor Richart flew in. As a result, Berry, Carroll, and Brady Norrish all took roughing calls.
The Grizzlies comfortably killed off the early penalty kill, allowing only one shot, and getting a great short-handed look for Harms and Walters.
Utah got a look of their own on the power play 3:34 in, but disaster struck when Winquist collided with an Idaho player and went down hard, having to be helped off the ice. Out of all that, he was assessed a penalty too, served by Herbert, and didn’t return. Less than a minute later, tempers continued to flair and McGauley dropped the gloves with Jeff King.
Misiak and Herbert got in two-on-none right as the later emerged from the penalty box, but somehow he managed to get an interference call, and was sent straight back to the bin.
The Grizzlies only allowed two shots, and no sooner was Herbert freed than Teigan Zahn and Keegan Kanzig dropped the gloves at 8:28.
Cole Ully and Alexander Dahl took matching minors with about eight to go, and the teams played four-on-four. Kevin Davis drew a high-sticking call at 15:17, and Carr had to make a spectacular save on Justin Parizek who got in alone short-handed.
No sooner had the Steelheads returned to full strength than they took a delay-of-game penalty. Unfortunately, Parizek got a short-handed goal 11 seconds later.
The period once again ended in chaos.
Except for the first shift, Idaho dominated the first five minutes of the third, eventually forcing Carroll into a penalty. Fortunately, Utah killed it off.
Idaho continued to run play till the ten minute mark, after which things evened out a little. Though the Steelheads spend a lot of time in the offensive zone, Utah did do a decent job of keeping the puck away from the net.
It was a fairly uneventful period in general, with just the one penalty, and eight shots (Idaho 6, Utah 2), as Idaho played largely in the offensive zone, but Utah kept them from doing anything dangerous with all their time.
With 1:20 to go, Idaho once again pulled their goalie and called a time out, but when the final buzzer sounded, the Grizzlies were the 2-1 victors.
Herbert, who still leads the league in points, was the game’s first star, while Carr’s 27/28 saves were good for third star.
The Good
- Once again, Herbert was terrific, picking up his fifth goal in four games.
- The power play continues to click (mostly), with Winquist getting yet another power play tally, even though they only capitalized on one of five chances.
- Davis is a force to be reckoned with, both offensively and defensively.
- Utah is 3-0-0-1 in the first four games of the year, picking up seven of a possible eight points in that time.
The Bad
- Utah had only two shots in the third, and spent quite a lot of the period in their own zone. However, they only allowed eight shots against, and did a good job keeping Idaho away from Carr, so this is a bit of a wash.
- Utah allowed two short-handed goals to Idaho this weekend, which isn’t great.
The Ugly
- Winquist played only four minutes of the second period before leaving the game with a lower body injury. If he’s out for any amount of time, it could be a big loss for the Grizzlies, as he is their second most prolific point producer, and is relied upon in all situations.
Photo courtesy of Tim Broussard and staff.
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