Olivier Labelle, who had his first goal in nine games in Saturday's 2-0 Utah win to push the Salmon Kings to the brink of elimination, had two more goals and an assist Sunday. Defenseman James Sanford had three assists, forward Ryan Cruthers had two assists and forward Ryan Kinasewich had the game's first goal for the second game in a row, also a backhander from midway up the slot, plus an assist. Rob Sirianni and Micheal Haley each had a goal and an assist.

Utah went into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead, but Labelle's first score, at 2:18 of the second on a power play, started a six-goal barbecue, Sirianni scoring Utah's last at 4:45 of the third.

Labelle now has four points in his last four periods of play.

"That's the story of my life, right?" said the hustling right wing from St. Eustache, Quebec. "I'm not the guy with the most talent, but when things go my way, I mean, I work hard, and sometimes things just start to click.

"First goal, got a little lucky. Hit my skate, but I was driving (to the) net. Second goal, I was right there in the paint where it's hard to get goals, and the puck just appeared there. I don't feel like I've done so much more than usual, it's just a matter of second senses and just working hard.

"You know what? That goal I got last night (an empty-netter) might have given me a little bit of confidence, too," said Labelle.

For the whole team, he added, "Today the puck keeps going in the net for some reason. We keep doing the simple things, and we've got to be proud of what we've accomplished so far, but at the same time, we haven't won anything.

"We're just halfway there."

---

E-mail: lham@desnews.com

---

CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

Utah wins series 4-1

Game 1: UTAH 6, Victoria 0

Game 2: Victoria 6, UTAH 1

Game 3: UTAH 7, Victoria 5

Game 4: UTAH 2, Victoria 0

Game 5: UTAH 8, Victoria 3

CONFERENCE FINALS

Best-of-7

Game 1: May 12, 8 p.m.

at Las Vegas

Game 2: May 13, 8 p.m.

at Las Vegas

Game 3: May 15, 7 p.m.

at Utah

Game 4: May 16, 7 p.m.

at Utah

Game 5: May 18, 7 p.m.

at Utah (if necessary)

Game 6: May 20, 8 p.m.

at Las Vegas (if necessary)

Game 7: May 21, 8 p.m.

at Las Vegas (if necessary)

All times Mountain