A big start for the Grizzlies on Friday night against the visiting Long Beach Ice Dogs proved to be not big enough, as the Grizzlies squandered an early lead and lost, 4-3.

"(Long Beach) came out and played a lot hungrier than we did," said Grizzlies head coach Jason Christie. "That was the difference."

The Grizzlies (18-25-4) lost despite outshooting the Ice Dogs (16-26-3) by a margin of 38-28 and going 2-for-5 on power plays, while Long Beach was 0-for-5.

The tone for the game was set just four seconds in, when Utah's Brad Herauf and Long Beach's David Walker went straight at each other after the face-off and engaged in a fight that ranged all over the rink and lasted for more than a minute. After things had calmed down a bit, the Grizzlies wasted no time getting on the board and took a 1-0 advantage just 2:30 into the game when an Ice Dog defensive breakdown gave Utah a 4-on-2 breakaway opportunity that culminated in a Chris Trick goal. Ryan Kinasewich added Utah's second goal off a power play just before the midpoint of the first period.

Long Beach got back into the game late in the first period when Ice Dog Alexei Smirnov skated into the right place at the right time. After a scrum deep in the Utah zone, the puck squirted out and slid to Smirnov, who caught Utah goalie Rob McVicar off guard with a quick backhand.

The Grizzlies needed less than a minute to recover and extend the lead back to two when D.J. Jelitto converted a power play opportunity with an off-balance backhand shot to give Utah back the momentum heading into the break.

The second period, however, was all Long Beach, as the Ice Dogs got goals from three different players and took the lead when Bo Cheesman split a pair of Utah defenders and pulled up to fire a top-shelf burner. The teams traded near-misses on power plays at the start of the third period, after which Long Beach did everything it could to bleed the clock.

The Grizzlies had a power play opportunity for the final 1:11 of the game, but were unable to slip one past Ice Dog goalie Brett Jaeger.

The two teams will face each other for the last time this season tonight at 7:05 in the E Center.

Christie said this series has a playoff-level importance to it, and said his players need to play like it.

"We have to play better tomorrow," he said. "Guys should be a factor for us on every series."

---

E-MAIL: jtwitchell@desnews.com