The Grizzlies continued the second stage of their road trip in Rapid City on Friday night. Mason McDonald got the start, while Josh Anderson joined the team from Colorado. Colin Jacobs and Patrick McGrath both played in place of Tim McGauley and Yuri Terao, and Mason McDonald got the start.

This weekend, I’ll be returning to the far less formal “Top Six Minutes” style recap that made a few appearances last season, so be prepared.

First Period

• Really good penalty kill for the Grizzlies after Travis Barron headed to the box for high-sticking.
• Felix Lauzon heads to the box, but takes Kelly Kilma with him. REALLY excellent kill from Utah.
• The Rush strike first on the breakaway. BOOO.
• It’s a Grizzlies shooting gallery out there! Definitely the response you want to see after a goal against.
• That was a fantastic scoring chance from the Captain.
• Taylor Richart and Josh Dickinson both threw themselves in front of shots that shift. Looked painful, but neither of them missed so much as a shift.
• There’s that lightning fast glove-hand of Mason McDonald’s there.
• Ryan Wagner’s hands are marvelous.
• Eric Williams draws a short-handed power play in the offensive zone!
• Not a great power play.
• Those were some really nice plays that didn’t lead to anything, sadly.

Second Period

• Early power play for the Grizz there.
• Oooh, Erik Källgren wasn’t 100% sure he had that shot from Richart.
• Some speedy skating from Griffen Molino draws another power play!
• What. A. Save. McDonald stones Montminy on a breakaway out of the box.
• And a couple other big saves from them.
• COLIN JACOBS TIES THE GAME. Nice move too. Wagner and Brandon Saigeon with the assists.

• Power play again for the Grizzlies.
• Oh, that SNIIIIIIIIIPE. Dickinson with his EIGHTH of the season on the advantage.
• Never heard of a six minute penalty before. But McGrath is headed to the box for that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• Two for slashing, four for high sticking, well that’s new, but makes sense.
• And RC scores.
• McGrath and Saulnier with a furious fight there with 3:44 to go.
• Ohhhh that was almost a glorious Griffen goal.
• Power play for the boys! So many power plays this game.
• Oh man, it didn’t lead to a goal, but that whole Richart, Dickinson, Barron sequence was lovely.

Third Period

• A Rush player ends up in the net, but not the puck.
• What. A. SAVE.

• Thaaat one not so much. Klima with the hat trick.
• HOW did that Cassels shot not go in???
• Nice stick from Barron there.
• Another one from Klima. McDonald was wearing a couple of players on that one, unfortunately initiated by a Grizzlies player.
• Molino’s kind of fast in case you somehow managed to miss that memo.
• I’m not gonna argue very hard with something not being called against the Grizzlies, but how was that not a trip on Utah.
• Josh Dickinson out there making scoring look absolutely effortless. 4-3 with just over two to go.

• Late power play for Utah!!!
• Six-on-four with an empty Grizzlies net.
• No dice.
• Utah falls 4-3, but it sure was an entertaining game.

After witnessing Josh Dickinson blaze his way through teams the past few games, the Grizzlies did get a bit of a taste of their own medicine. Klima scored all four of the Rush’s goals, and was named first star.

As was predicted ahead of time, power plays did indeed play a large part, both teams getting two. Rapid City does look to be a far better team than they have been in years past. As a result, although there were certainly some frustrating moments, and plenty of things to clean up, it was overall an entertaining game.

Utah looks to settle the score tomorrow night.

Goals

• First Period: None
• Second Period: Jacobs (Wagner, Saigeon) (PP), Dickinson (Richart, Cassels (PP)
• Third Period: Dickinson (Wagner, Molino)

 

Photo courtesy of Tim Broussard and staff.