West Valley City • In the midst of a five-game series against the Mountain Division-leading Colorado Eagles, the Utah Grizzlies are fighting for their playoff lives. Unfortunately for the home team, it lost consecutive games for only the second time since December.
Colorado flexed its muscles yet again, defeating the Grizzlies 4-1 on Saturday.
"We did a lot of things well tonight and had our scoring chances, but at the end of the day they worked a little harder than us," coach Tim Branham said. "Colorado's forwards are the key to their success and they work so hard with and without the puck. If you want to have success against them, you need to outwork them."
Colorado scored twice in the second period to claim a 3-1 lead. Luke Salazar broke a 1-1 tie as his wrist shot trickled through the pads of Utah goalie Troy Redmann. A Grizzlie power play backfired as the Eagles gathered the puck and stormed down the ice on a two on one. Casey Pierro-Zabotel and Teigan Zahn passed the puck back and forth until Zahn deposited it into the back of the net. Things could have been worse for Utah, but when Jackson Houck blazed down the ice on a breakaway he was stopped stone cold by Redmann.
With Utah playing desperate hockey in the third and unable to cut into Colorado's lead, Branham pulled Redmann with three minutes remaining. Despite firing a barrage of shots at Colorado goalie Kent Simpson, none was successful. With time dwindling, Luke Salazar sealed Utah's fate with an empty-net goal to finalize the scoring.
Although first-period shots were lopsided in favor of the Eagles to the tune of 18 to five, the score after the initial session was 1-1. Matt Garbowsky threaded the needle to Cam Maclise, who got the visitors on the scoreboard. The Grizzlies responded quickly with Michael Pelech's slapshot from the blue line.
ECHL standings
EASTERN CONFERENCE
North GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA
Brampton 62 35 20 3 4 77 231 223
Reading 63 36 23 2 2 76 227 188
Manchester 63 32 20 7 4 75 232 225
Adirondack 62 32 20 6 4 74 225 203
Wheeling 63 31 25 7 0 69 214 205
Elmira 63 14 41 7 1 36 146 241
South GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA
Florida 62 41 16 2 3 87 227 180
Greenville 64 35 24 4 1 75 225 226
Cincinnati 64 34 26 4 0 72 179 183
Orlando 62 31 22 6 3 71 227 218
South Carolina 62 33 26 2 1 69 193 184
Atlanta 61 24 29 6 2 56 205 235
Norfolk 62 24 34 4 0 52 186 229
Western Conference
Central GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA
Toledo 62 45 14 2 1 93 259 166
Fort Wayne 60 37 16 5 2 81 222 177
Quad City 62 35 23 2 2 74 197 182
Kalamazoo 64 33 27 1 3 70 190 204
Tulsa 64 26 32 5 1 58 176 212
Wichita 60 18 38 3 1 40 162 234
Indy 62 17 39 3 3 40 157 252
Mountain GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA
Colorado 63 43 15 2 3 91 245 180
Allen 63 41 17 3 2 87 252 180
Idaho 63 36 20 5 2 79 213 193
Alaska 62 30 23 3 6 69 198 199
Utah 63 29 27 5 2 65 191 218
Missouri 62 28 26 3 5 64 199 206
Rapid City 63 23 32 8 0 54 193 228
Saturday's games
Atlanta 5, Manchester 1
Adirondack 5, Wheeling 4, OT
Orlando 5, Florida 3
Brampton 6, Elmira 2
South Carolina 7, Greenville 5
Toledo 4, Tulsa 3
Norfolk 4, Reading 2
Kalamazoo 5, Indy 1
Allen 4, Wichita 2
Quad City 5, Missouri 0
Colorado 4, Utah 1
Idaho 5, Rapid City 3
Cincinnati at Alaska, late
Sunday's games
Fort Wayne at Brampton, Noon
Quad City at Indy, 1:05 p.m.
Wheeling at Elmira, 2:05 p.m.
Tulsa at Toledo, 3:15 p.m.
Atlanta at Adirondack, 5 p.m.