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West Valley City • For 60 minutes the Utah Grizzlies went toe to toe against the best team in the ECHL in the Toledo Walleye.

Playing with a confidence that was lacking in Wednesday night's affair, Utah outshot Toledo 29 to 24. All of that hard work, however, didn't result in a victory as Toledo took Game 2 of the three-game series, 2-1.

Nonetheless, Utah coach Tim Branham saw a lot of positives from the game.

"That game could have gone either way. I thought our guys played great and we had so many chances, especially early on. We need to stay positive and stay the course. We expect to beat this team and Saturday night will be a big test for us."

Following a similar script to Wednesday's game, Toledo scored the first two goals before Utah responded.

The third time was the charm for the Walleye on the power play as Scott Czarnowczan claimed the lead for the visitors. Shortly after, a beautiful two-line pass was received by Dane Walters from Jacob MacDonald and with nothing standing between him and the net except goalie Troy Redmann, Walters deposited it into the back of the net for a two-goal lead.

Sensing the game was slipping away, Utah turned it up offensively. Mathieu Aubin scored on a redirected puck from Michael Pelech for his ninth goal on the season, continuing an impressive streak of having scored a goal in four consecutive games.

"We played a solid game and we outchanced them," Aubin said. "It's frustrating to come up short, but we need to stay positive. We know we can play with the best and we need to build on it. If we can battle like that against the best team in the league, good things will happen."

The Grizzlies were able to avoid potential disaster at the game's onset, withstanding consecutive power plays in which Toledo was able to tally only two shots on goal. Although the contest was scoreless after the first period, Utah outshot the Walleye 13 to seven. —

ECHL standings

EASTERN CONFERENCE

North GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA

Manchester 25 16 7 1 1 34 96 75

Adirondack 24 14 5 2 3 33 87 68

Reading 26 14 10 1 1 30 90 81

Brampton 24 13 8 1 2 29 93 94

Wheeling 23 12 9 2 0 26 76 73

Elmira 23 6 13 4 0 16 53 79

South GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA

Florida 23 16 4 1 2 35 86 69

Orlando 25 16 7 2 0 34 101 80

Greenville 25 14 9 2 0 30 79 77

S. Carolina 23 12 9 1 1 26 66 61

Cincinnati 25 11 10 4 0 26 71 76

Atlanta 27 10 13 3 1 24 97 108

Norfolk 25 4 17 4 0 12 52 98

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Central GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA

Toledo 24 20 4 0 0 40 107 69

Tulsa 27 16 9 2 0 34 79 75

Fort Wayne 23 13 7 3 0 29 86 68

Quad City 23 13 7 1 2 29 66 61

Wichita 21 11 9 0 1 23 64 65

Kalamazoo 26 9 15 0 2 20 62 93

Indy 24 8 14 1 1 18 57 88

Mountain GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA

Colorado 26 16 6 1 3 36 90 78

Alaska 24 14 5 1 4 33 86 68

Idaho 26 14 9 2 1 31 87 82

Allen 28 14 13 1 0 29 88 84

Missouri 25 10 11 1 3 24 75 88

Rapid City 25 8 12 5 0 21 76 90

Utah 26 9 15 1 1 20 71 93

Friday's games

Orlando 6, Kalamazoo 3

Manchester 5, Elmira 1

Greenville 5, Reading 4

Adirondack 7, Brampton 3

South Carolina 6, Norfolk 3

Florida 8, Atlanta 7, OT

Cincinnati 4, Indy 1

Wheeling 6, Fort Wayne 5

Allen 6, Wichita 1

Colorado 4, Tulsa 0

Missouri 4, Alaska 3, SO

Toledo 2, Utah 1

Idaho 6, Rapid City 2

Saturday's games

Elmira at Manchester, 4 p.m.

Orlando at Kalamazoo, 5 p.m.

Brampton at Adirondack, 5 p.m.

Atlanta at Florida, 5 p.m.

South Carolina at Norfolk, 5:15 p.m.

Wheeling at Fort Wayne, 5:30 p.m.

Quad City at Indy, 5:35 p.m.

Colorado at Tulsa, 6:05 p.m.

Alaska at Missouri, 6:05 p.m.

Toledo at Utah, 7 p.m.

Rapid City at Idaho, 7:10 p.m.