ALLEN, Texas – Kevin Boyle turned away 36 shots, while the Utah Grizzlies offense came to life in the second period of Friday’s Mountain Division Semi-Final game to hand the hosting Allen Americans a 4-1 defeat in front of 5,004 fans at the Allen Event Center. The win evens the series at one game apiece as the series now shifts to West Valley City, Utah.
For the second game in a row the Grizzlies built a solid lead, only this time they held on for a win.
Allen’s Riley Gill, recently announced as the 2016-17 Warrior Hockey ECHL Goaltender of the year, had a rough outing, allowing four goals on 30 shots.
A hard fought first period saw Utah out-shoot Allen 15-8, while both goaltenders turned away several solid scoring chances. The Grizzlies would finally find the back of the net on an Austen Brassard goal from Jon Puskar at 17:17 of the period. Puskar won a draw in the left circle and sent the puck on net. Gill made the initial save, but kicked the puck directly to Brassard, who then buried it into the open net to make it 1-0.
The Americans would lead the Grizzlies in shots during the middle frame, out-shooting them 12-10, but Utah would convert three of their shots into goals and hold a 4-0 lead at the second intermission.
C.J. Eick picked up his second postseason goal at 7:28 of the second, taking a feed from Puskar near the blue line, then working in on Gill and beating him glove-side on the backhand. Garrett Haar picked up the secondary assist on the score.
Allen nearly cut the lead in half just past the mid-way point of the period when Bryan Moore took a pass from Chad Costello and rang the puck off of the crossbar. Despite a brief celebration and the goal light being activated, the no goal signal was quickly given by Referee Andy Howard. The play was discussed during the next stoppage and it was confirmed that the puck did not cross the goal line. Five-minutes later Boyles made a spectacular play, picking the puck out of mid-air to keep the Americans off of the scoreboard.
Puskar added to the lead at 17:54, poking home a rebound for his first playoff goal. Eick and Brassard were credited with the helpers on the goal. Just over a minute and a half later, Michael Pelech would strike while on the power play to make it a 4-0 Grizzlies lead. Pelech collected a cross-ice pass from Erik Higby and powered home a shot from inside the right circle, beating Gill glove-side. Erik Bradford picked up the secondary assist on the play.
Desperate to even things up, Allen would out-shoot Utah 17-5 in the final period, but would only convert on one of those shots. Josh Brittain broke up Boyles’ shutout bid at 8:49, re-directing a pass from Eric Roy into the net from close range.
Game three is set for Wednesday night in Utah.
Contact the photographer: Dianne.Webster@prohockeynews.com
Contact the writer: John.Hall@prohockeynews.com
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