Utah Grizzlies: Griz grab win in series opener

Published: Saturday, April 26, 2008 10:04 a.m. MDT
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VICTORIA, British Columbia — The Utah Grizzlies defeated the Victoria Salmon Kings 6-0 Friday night at Save-On-Food Memorial Centre to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Goaltender Nathan Lawson stopped all 31 shots he saw for his second playoff shutout in three games. Tyler Haskins added his third career hat trick in the game.

Utah took a 1-0 lead 12:00 into the first as Travis Rycroft knocked home an Andrew MacDonald blast for his second goal of the playoffs. The six-on-five goal came on a delayed Victoria penalty. Utah was able to withstand four Victoria power-plays in the first and led 1-0 after 20 minutes.

After killing off over a minute shorthanded five-on-three, Keith Johnson and Andrew MacDonald fed Ryan Kinasewich on a breakaway for a shorthanded goal to give Utah a 2-0 lead 6:04 into the second. Utah went up 3-0 on their second power-play of the game with Tyler Haskins playing a rebound off of the back wall at 11:23.

In the third, Utah added three goals in the first 8:19 to break the game open and build a 6-0 lead. Crashing the net, Ryan Cruthers added his first pro goal as Utah went up 4-0. Tyler Haskins then completed his hat trick with two goals in two minutes and 13 seconds from 6:06-8:19 of the third period.

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The shutout was Lawson's fourth of his rookie season. Andrew MacDonald and Keith Johnson joined Haskins in the game with three points for Utah with three assists each. Ten total Utah players scored in the contest. James Sanford and Keith Johnson collected assists on both Utah power-play goals.

Shots in the game were even at 31. Utah went 10-10 on the penalty-kill and 2-4 on the power-play.

The Grizzlies and Victoria play game two of this best-of-seven series Sunday in Canada with face-off scheduled for 6 p.m. Utah returns to the E-Center for games three, four and five Thursday and Saturday at 7:05 p.m. with Sunday's game scheduled for 4:05 p.m.

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The game was fantastic and so was sharing it with other fans at the...

LC | April 26, 2008 at 11:01 a.m.