WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah – Dante Sheriff took advantage of a goaltending mistake late in the second period, resulting in the game-winner as part of a two-point night to power the Greenville Swamp Rabbits to a 3-1 win over the Utah Grizzlies on Wednesday. The game kicked off a two-week, six-game road trip for the Swamp Rabbits, and was the first of three head-to-head against Utah this week.
Both teams skated to a scoreless opening 20 minutes, with Isaiah Saville turning away seven Grizzlies shots, and Dominic Basse staving off nine Swamp Rabbits shots. Eventually, the Grizzlies broke through first on their first power play of the game. At 2:36 of the second, Robbie Stucker had time and space off the blue line, walked down the slot, and rifled a shot by a screened Saville to give the Grizzlies a 1-0 lead (Luc Salem and John Gelatt assisted). Towards the end of the frame, quick strike offense eventually gave the Swamp Rabbits the advantage. With 3:58 to play, Saville made a series of massive saves that eventually led to a transition up the ice. Ryan O’Reilly uncorked a snipe that whizzed over the shoulder of Basse from the right, squaring the game at 1-1 (Keaton Mastrodonato and Josh Atkinson assisted). Exactly 83 seconds later, Basse came out of his net and played the puck from behind up the left wall, but it was immediately intercepted by Dante Sheriff. Sheriff fired the puck into the open net before Basse could recover, giving the Swamp Rabbits a 2-1 lead with 2:35 left in the second. The Grizzlies couldn’t muster a comeback, despite pulling Basse for the extra-attacker late in the game. Hudson Schandor potted his third goal of the season into the empty net on a pass from Sheriff with 52.1 seconds remaining, sealing a 3-1 Swamp Rabbits win.
Isaiah Saville picked up the victory, stopping all but one of 25 shots on his net (5-5-0-0).
Both teams rematch each other in the second game of their three-game set this week on Friday, January 30th. Puck drop is slated for 9:10 p.m. EST at the Maverik Center.
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