Unified Grizzlies blow by the Moose

WEST VALLEY CITY — The Utah Grizzlies had a breakout game last Friday, winning and scoring six goals at home. Then they got one goal each in their next two games.

Wednesday morning, the day after a slug of roster changes, team captain Mark Wotton called a players-only meeting and told the club it couldn't live with excuses.

That meeting, a solidified team effort for 60 minutes and a couple of lucky breaks produced a 5-2 Grizzly victory in the E Center over the Manitoba Moose.

The crowd was 3,644. Utah moved its record to 4-7-1-2, while Manitoba fell to 3-10-3-1. The two teams meet again in the E Center Saturday night at 7. Last season, Utah took three of four games against the Moose.

Grizzly veteran Jarrod Skalde had his second three-point night in the last five days, opening Utah scoring with what he called a fortunate goal when the puck he shot on a power-play from out of the right-wing corner hit a defenseman's glove and went into the net to tie the game 1-1 at 1:34 of the second period.

It was Skalde's 150th goal in the American Hockey League.

That's the kind of thing that can get a team going. "We had to change our attitude," Skalde said. "We had a bit of a negative attitude in the (dressing) room with all this losing. We decided to start fresh.

"I'm not saying we're rolling now, but that's a start. We've got to come out Saturday the same," Skalde said.'

Manitoba got the game's first goal, and the Grizzlies hadn't won when surrendering a first goal. Then the Grizzlies got rolling, scoring three times in the second period for a 3-1 lead.

Even though the period ended with Utah ahead 3-2, a puck bounced Utah's way to keep things from being tied at the end of two.

Manitoba's Brandon Reid broke in short-handed against Grizz goalie Jason Bacashihua, leaving defender Jeff MacMillan little chance but to dive and knock the puck away at 15:39. Reid, knocked down, was awarded a penalty shot, even though it appeared MacMillan touched the puck first.

But Reid never put it on net, losing the handle a stride or two before he'd have shot it. "Oh, that guy's a real good player,' said a relieved Grizzly coach Don Hay later.

Hay was happy with Utah's consistent effort, and Skalde said he figured that kind of hard work bought the Grizzlies the right to a little luck.