Grizzlies start strong, falter

WEST VALLEY CITY — Getting the first seven shots of the game against the West Division leader was a positive for the Utah Grizzlies, especially since many of them were good-looking shots, and the Grizzlies were skating and passing well.

But Grand Rapids goalie Joey MacDonald, who came into the game with a 1.92 goals-against average, stopped all those shots, buying enough time for his teammates to pounce on Grizzly mistakes for a three-goal first period that was really all the Griffins needed despite a Utah comeback.

Oh, yeah. A fourth Grizzly mistake - a turnover with their net empty - accounted for the final goal, too.

The Griffins won in the E Center Wednesday night 4-2 before a crowd of 5,128.

The two teams battle again Friday night at 7 in the Big E, and the Grizzlies have done well in back-to-backs lately, splitting their last four two-game sets.

"I thought we played well," said Utah assistant coach Gord Dineen about the first period. "We came out 7-0 in shots early on, and then they score on three of four shots, and it wasn't because of (goalie) David LeNeveu.

"Three breakdowns and goals in our net."

The errors were mainly in coverage and positioning, and Grand Rapids' second goal was scored when the Grizzlies made a poor line change.

"Those kind of mistakes killed us," said Dineen, who would like the club to stop being disappointed after games and instead focus before them and hold it.

"They end up in our net. It's the difference in the game," Dineen said.

The Griffins scored three and nearly had a fourth on just five shots on goal in the first period, while the Grizzlies wound up with 12 shots, none scoring, though several were impressive looking.

Griff center Eric Himelfarb took advantage at 6:52 from up the slot after a faceoff got the Grizz out of position. Winger Blake Sloan got the next goal at 10:25 for his second point of the game, assisted by winger Nathan Robinson and defenseman Niklas Kronwall. Kronwall got the next goal at 13:23 with a helped from Robinson, giving Grand Rapids three players with two first-period points.

"To a man, probably, we did some things bad," said Dineen. "When we made our mistakes, they were key ones."

Utah came back strong in the second period, scoring twice with Peter White rushing in with a Jeff Taffe pass to break the shutout at 8:42 and Fredrik Sjostrom tipping in a Matthew Spiller shot from the left-wing circle on a power play at 13:16.