Grizzlies lose in overtime

WEST VALLEY CITY — The Utah Grizzlies should be happy that they escaped Monday night's game with a point. Despite being outplayed, Utah got the game into overtime before losing 3-2 to the Hartford Wolf Pack in the extra period.

"They took it to us," said coach Pat Conacher. "We played way too much in our own end the last 30 minutes."

The final statistics showed that Utah was outplayed. Hartford outshot the Grizzlies 33-26, and Hartford's power play was far superior to Utah's converting 2-of-6 chances, compared to an 0-for-5 night for the Grizzlies.

For the first two periods, it looked as if Utah might steal a win. The Grizzlies got on the board first 14:31 into the opening period when Kiel McLeod capitalized on an assist from Martin Sonnenberg. He took the pass and skated in on the net before firing a wrist-shot from 20 feet to the top left corner for the 1-0 lead.

Hartford evened the contest just four minutes into the second period. The Wolf Pack equalized on a power-play goal from Dominic Moore. He followed up a shot from Ken Gernander and poked it by goalie David LeNeveu on the rebound.

Erik Westrum put the Grizzlies back ahead when he took the puck from his own red line and skated toward the Wolf Pack goal. He had a little give-and-go with Aaron Gavey and found himself skating in on goalie Steve Valiquette all alone. He beat the net-minder to the lower-right side of the net, and Utah held a 2-1 lead after two periods.

Hartford again rallied. Eight minutes into the third period, the Wolf Pack tied it on a Ryan Hollweg goal. He was the recipient of a bullet centering pass from Jamie Lundmark. Hollweg simply stuck his stick out and had the puck deflect into the net.

"We blew a simple back-check and they tied it," said Conacher. "When you stop doing the little things, the hitting, and keeping the puck deep and not turning it over, they're too good a team. They are a meat-and-potatoes team. They play a simple game, and you've got to give them credit."

Several times it looked as if Hartford would forge ahead, but LeNeveu stayed strong in the net to get the Grizzlies into the overtime.

"No doubt about it, David played a great game for us; he kept us in it," said Conacher.

In the end it was the Hartford power play that finished the game. On a four-to-three man advantage Jeff Hamilton scored with only 44 seconds remaining to give the Wolf Pack the win.

Hartford moved into a first-place tie with the Manchester Monarchs. The loss drops Utah to 16-38-1-4. The two teams will again face off on Wednesday at the E-Center at 7:05 p.m.

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E-mail: mblack@desnews.com