With Turner Ottenbreit and Caleb Herbert back in the lineup, the Grizzlies once again found themselves dressing a full complement of skaters. Joe Cannata got the start as the Grizzlies looked to avenge Wednesday’s outing. Though the score didn’t reflect it, it was a much better game.
First Period
- Ausmus starts the game off with a sweet shot! We’re half-way to last game’s first period shot total! *insert copious laughing emoji faces*
- Two shots and it hasn’t even been two minutes yet! Needless to say, the Grizzlies are already looking much more engaged early.
- Five minutes gone and this has all the makings of a very good game.
- You can tell there’s a lot of passion on both sides tonight.
- OH boy. Dickinson did NOT miss the net by much there.
- Walker and Dickinson have been SO CLOSE to connecting for a goal twice tonight.
- I have a bad feeling about this penalty kill…
- ….O mea culpa, mia maxima culpa.
- The Grizzlies are hustling to some purpose tonight.
- Ok, some nights you can chalk up a team trailing 2-0 to lack of effort. That isn’t the case tonight. It wasn’t an ideal bounce though, that’s for sure.
- Now THAT goal was definitely not good. Carr in net now for the Grizzlies.
- Oh geez. Herbert gets taken down and is very slow to get up. Just what we need.
- Mike McKee gets five and a game for slew footing, and Herbert remains on the bench, though not on the power play.
- Well. The effort was better. Shots 13-8 for Utah though they trail 3-0 after 20.
Second Period
- This power play is not stellar.
- I take that back. The beginning was not great, but they had some really crisp passing at the end there, followed up by a big block by Richart to keep the puck from heading into the Utah zone uncontested.
- Dickinson has been superb so far, and draws a penalty! Really long delayed power play there.
- The Grizzlies crash the net, and absolute chaos breaks out. Kromm and Carroll to the box with matching minors.
- Herbert with a glorious look…that goes wide.
- Grizzlies out-shooting Tulsa 19-10.
- Haha pretty sure that should have been two each for holding on Walker and that Tulsa player.
- Speaking of Walker though, it cannot be stated enough how good Walker and Dickinson have looked tonight.
- Things are starting to get just a little bit nasty…
- Herbert might not be quite at Ully levels of turning on a dime, but he sure isn’t far off.
- Oh bah. Tulsa makes it 4-0 just after both teams return to full strength.
- This game just goes from bad to worse. 5-0 with less than a minute to go in the second. Where did the defense go??
- This game started out so well, then went down hill, and hasn’t quite found its way back yet.
Third Period
- Shouldn’t…that have been slashing?
- Zahn with some snarl in his game to start the period!
- Carr gets run into and still manages to put the puck out of danger.
- Herbert to the box, Tulsa scores.
- Please everyone slow down.
- EXCEPT YOU, TIM MCGAULEY. 6-1.
- AND MARCHMENT MAKES IT 6-2.
- Some how McGauley gets a fight and a game misconduct for being…the aggressor?
- Tulsa gets a power play for that kerfuffle, and makes it 7-2. Because that’s how tonight is going.
- BIG hit from Ausmus.
- Carroll gets thrown out for…reasons. This is fine. Everything is fine.
- But Tulsa immediately negates the power play with a high-sticking penalty.
- Richart is arguing Zahn’s case, but no dice. Zahn gets a game as well. Because that’s really just how tonight is going.
- OTTENBREIT WITH THE SHORTY. 7-3 from Dickinson who has two well deserved points on the night.
- Well, the score wasn’t great, but there was definitely a great deal more energy, and getting back to the good things in their game tonight than in the past couple of games (puck support, making better plays, etc, etc). So that at least is encouraging. Even if the score…uh. Isn’t.
- 7-3 Tulsa, shots 39-27 for Utah.
As mentioned, Walker and Dickinson were both very exciting to watch tonight, and as always, it was great to get Herbert back in the lineup, and to have a full complement of defensemen.
“I think we came out hard in the first period than we have in the last handful of games or so, it didn’t show in the score, but I think that was one of the best games that we lost this year, so to speak.” Said Jake Marchment, who scored the Grizzlies’ second power play goal on a very nice backhander. “We worked hard, bounces weren’t there. But we had a five minute power play when it was three-nothing, and we didn’t score, we had a couple more, it could have been a lot closer. If we bring that effort tomorrow and just bear down a little more, we’ll be successful.”
Head Coach Tim Branham also looked on the bright side. “First off, I want to give [Tulsa] credit. They’re a good hockey club. They work hard, they play as a team, they do a good job. Rob does a good job over there. Second thing is you’re exactly right, we came out, we took it to them, we outplayed them, out shot them, out chanced them, they get a power play and we didn’t sacrifice a couple things, and maybe a couple lucky bounces, it ends up in the back of your net and we end up behind the eight ball. I was actually really proud of the way the guys played tonight. Certainly five-on-five, I thought we did ok even penalty kill, but a couple of bad bounces here and there. Power play, it was good we got a couple there at the end, hopefully that’ll kick start us. But definitely, I thought we played a pretty good hockey game. Whether we deserved a different fate, I don’t know. It wasn’t a 7-3 game, we were definitely much better than that.”
As for the games ahead? “You’ve gotta put these two games behind you tomorrow and come out and play, have that start that we had today, and then from there we’ll take it shift by shift, and period by period, and see what happens. I like our odds. It’s a great group of guys, we’ve had a good season so far. We’re in a little bit of a slump, it’s still a good team, and I know we’ll be alright.”
The Grizzlies get one more crack at Tulsa in this series on Saturday, which is also Guns ‘N Hoses night.
Check out these absolutely SUPERB Guns ‘N Hoses jerseys! 👌🔥🚒🚓 https://t.co/qIXtyyVLYW—
Growlin' Grizzlies Booster Club (@UtahGrizzBC) January 19, 2019
Photo courtesy of Jess Fleming and staff.
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