ALLEN, Texas – The two time defending Kelly Cup champion Allen Americans opened the 2017 post-season with a 4-3 win over the Utah Grizzlies on Wednesday night. After claiming the early lead, the Americans allowed the Grizzlies to score three-straight goals before they roared back to score three unanswered goals in the final 33-minutes to secure the win in front of a crowd of 4,341 at the Allen Event Center.
Bryan Moore got Allen on the board early, as he carried the puck down the left wing side, around a defender and bounced a shot off the blocker of Utah goaltender Kevin Boyle and into the net to make it 1-0 Allen at the 2:00 mark. Joel Chouinard and Harrison Ruopp picked up assists on the play. That lead would hold for six minutes before Utah’s Erik Higby took over.
Allen’s Bryan Moore celebrates his first period goal on Wednesday / Photo by Dianne Webster (PHN)
Higby made a diving play on a rebound, backhanding the puck into the net past Allen’s Riley Gill at 8:33 of the first. 36-seconds later, Higby deflected a Marc-Andre Levesque shot from the blue line past Gill to give Utah its first lead of the night. The Grizzlies maintained the 2-1 lead as the period came to a close.
Utah went up 3-1 near the midway point of the second period on a goal from C.J. Eick. One a two-on-one rush, Jon Puskar bounced a shot off the leg pad of Allen’s Jamie Murray. The rebound came directly to Eick, who buried the puck past Murray to give Utah a two-goal lead at 7:17.
It wouldn’t take long for the Americans to respond.
27-seconds later Tyler Barnes would find the net to cut the deficit to one. Standing in front of the net, Barnes took a feed from Wade MacLeod and shoveled the puck into the net past Boyles. Utah would hold a 3-2 lead entering the final period.
MacLeod tied things up 7:28 into the final frame, with Barnes assisting on the goal. Standing between the circles, MacLeod took a crisp pass from Barnes in the corner and sent the puck off Boyles’ glove and into the net. Josh Brittain picked up the secondary assist on the play.
Just over nine minutes later Allen would find the game-winner on a power play goal by Chouinard with assists going to Chad Costello and David Makowski.
Joel Chouinard and Spencer Asuchak celebrate Chouinard’s game winner in the third period of Allen’s 4-3 win over Utah / Photo by Dianne Webster (PHN)
Standing on the left goal line, Costello saucered a pass through the crease between Boyle and a Utah defenseman, to a streaking Chouinard, who buried it into the open net. The Americans were then able to hold on to claim a 4-3 win and take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Game two is set for a 7:05 PM start at the Allen Event Center on Friday.
Contact the writer: John.Hall@prohockeynews.com
Contact the photographer: Dianne.Webster@prohockeynews.com
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