With the exception of a newly activated Christian Frey, the roster remained the same as it had been on Wednesday.
First Period
- Much sharper start from the Grizzlies tonight, they’ve picked up the first two shots in the first couple of minutes.
- Make that first three. Gage Ausmus takes the puck around the back of the net and puts it right on J.T. Henke’s stick. Unfortunately Stuart Skinner was there to meet it.
- MIKE ECONOMOS KNOCKS OUR SOCKS OFF. (With some help from the Ryans!)
- Shots are 6-3 for Utah with just under nine minutes to go, so definitely a better first period effort.
- Kevin Carr is very sharp tonight.
- Travis Barron and Pierre-Cedric Labrie had words after that whistle. No penalties thus far.
- Austin Carroll and Marc-Olivier Crevier-Morin definitely building up some ill-will on that shift!
- Labrie spends almost a whole shift blatantly trying to goad Zahn into a fight. Zahn eventually gets fed up, and both get roughing calls.
- Now Barron and Dyson Stevenson exchange words.
- Preeettty sure Stan Dzakhov should have drawn a tripping call there…
- Well, that was a very fun first period!!
Second Period
- YIKES! That’s one way to start the second! A series of bobbled pucks by Wichita and saves by Carr eventually leads to a slashing call on Barron.
- That was a pretty nice shift by the Grizzlies after the penalty was killed off!
- That looked bad. J.T. Henke gets hit by the net as it flies off its moorings…He stays on the bench, however, and seems none-the-worse for wear.
- Well, that’s not what you want. Jesse Gabrielle gets behind the Utah defensemen and beats Carr.
- Ausmus with a thunderous hit that sure got the crowd going!
- That Ryan Misiak-Barron chance was almost a fantastic short-handed goal. Sadly, the key word is almost.
- Wichita has definitely played a lot harder this game in general, and this period in particular.
- That was a really good shift from Misiak and company, and it leads to a power play!
- You know that thing that we just said about Carr? It’s relevant again.
- What a nice power play goal from Tim McGauley. (<–to be read the way Tyson calls it, of course.)
- What a nice almost goal number two from McGauley.
Third Period
- That McGauley, Henke, Barron line is looking strong tonight.
- Watching Carr when he’s on his game like this is always such a treat. He’s so cool and collected, even when there’s a crowd around the net and rebounds are coming in from every direction.
- Misiak can’t believe that was off-sides, and neither can the fans.
- That was not one of their better power plays.
- Ausmus and Misiak have had strong nights tonight.
- The later in the game we go the more nerve-racking these icings are.
- Empty net Wichita, talk about nerve-racking.
- Shots are now 31-20 for the Thunder…
- JACK WALKER WITH THE EMPTY NETTER!!! Those wheels.
- Grizzlies win 3-1!!!
Tim McGauley’s tenth of the season, and the eventual game winner, got him first star honors, while Carr’s 30/31 saves earned him second star, and Walters’ two assists and over-all strong play saw him named third star.
“I think Wichita out played us the majority of the game,” said Coach Branham said of the match. “You know what though, we were opportunistic, probably could have scored three or four goals there in the second even though we didn’t play well. Power play once again got us one, that was huge, the game winner, but at the end of the day, we were able to keep them to the outside, we were able to close off rebounds and clear the rebounds. At no point did I think we were in trouble. I think in the second period they had a few chances and we just kind of stopped playing a little bit, we just had to get our battle and our compete level back. But for the most part we found a way to get two points, it was good, good teams do that, we’ve gotta make sure we have a more consistent effort tomorrow for sure.”
“I thought Carr was good. He was really good. Especially late in that game, in the third when shots were coming in, he was able to steer them to the corner, or in the glass, or out of play, it settles things down for us, that’s for sure. Then his ability to play the puck — gets us out of trouble. He’s a competitor, that’s for sure. I know he’s probably wanted to play a lot more games this year, and right now he’s getting his chance, and getting in a rhythm. There’s a reason we brought him back. He’s a heck of a goaltender.”
When asked about the game, Carr said, “The guys played really well in front of me, helped me see a lot of shots, kept them mostly to the outside, so I think we’ve gotta bring that effort tomorrow night.”
“They’re a good team” he added. “We have to respect them, just like every other team in this league, and I think we’re just playing the right way right now, just gotta keep it going.”
The Grizzlies look close out the home stand with a sweep tomorrow night.
Photo courtesy of Tim Broussard and staff.
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