WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah – The Utah Grizzlies (8-3-1-0) won their fifth-straight game Friday night at Maverik Center by defeating Rapid City 5-4 in overtime before 9,262 fans.
Alex Krushelnyski finished off his first professional hat trick by scoring 1:59 into three-on-three overtime as he worked in and hacked home a second attempt with Connor Hardowa and Charles Sarault picking up assists.
“It was another great crowd,” said Head Coach/General Manager Tim Branham. “We got the win and hopefully we put on a good show for them. It was a good start to the first. I didn’t like that we took our foot off of the gas in the third. I thought we played great in the second.”
The Grizzlies broke a 1-1 tie by scoring 33 seconds into the second period as Torin Snydeman scored his first pro goal in his first pro game on a second attempt setup when captain Brent Gwidt picked up a turnover.
“I really liked our puck movement,” said Branham. “I thought we made good plays; there were a couple no look, behind the back plays I want to get away from but I want our players to be creative and come up the ice with speed. We did that a lot tonight and we did a lot of good things.”
45 seconds later at 1:15, Utah made it 3-1 as Erik Higby slammed in a rebound on a Corey Fienhage blast as Matt Berry also picked up an assist.
7:15 into the second period the Grizzlies made it 4-1 as Alex Krushelnyski scored on his second breakaway of the game while linemates Charles Sarault and Ryan Walters picked up assists.
“He gets a lot of chances because of his speed and skill and it was great to see him get three tonight,” said Branham.
Krushelnyski made it 1-0 on his first goal of the night 6:11 into the first period as he poked a puck away to start a shorthanded situation and buried the goal.
Rapid City scored three goals in the third period to tie, including two in the final 4:08.
Grizzlies goaltender Ryan Faragher improved to 8-0 in the contest.
With Utah Grizzlies team release
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