Utah Grizzlies double up Condors for victory

Bakersfield, Calif. — The Utah Grizzlies (3-2) defeated the Bakersfield Condors (4-3) as Ryan Kinasewich, the ECHL's leading point and goal scorer had two goals and one assist in the win. It was his fourth game in five played this year in which he has logged at least three points.

The Grizzlies fell behind 1-0 at 9:20 of the first period, but responded 1:27 later to even the score on a Kinasewich goal as he flicked home a Josh Meyers shot. Utah made it 2-1 when James Sixsmith took a pass from Matt Clarke and hit the backhanded goal.

Bakersfield evened the game at two at 9:06 of the second period; but the Grizzlies quickly responded 1:11 later as Sixsmith setup Vlady Nikiforov, who fired a shot from the right wing circle to give Utah a 3-2 lead. Kinasewich made it 4-2 with 4:24 left in the second period on his league leading ninth goal of the year and that was the score at the second intermission. The goal by Kinasewich ended up being his league leading third game-winning goal of the season.

Utah added an early power-play goal in the third period as Kinasewich finished off his three-point night by feeding Matt Caria for his second goal of the year and eighth point in three games. Bakersfield made it 5-3 at 10:13 on a five-on-three power-play goal but Sixsmith sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 1:20 remaining.

Utah goaltender Parker Van Buskirk was again the unsung hero for Utah, stopping 14 of 15 shots in the first period and 25 of 28 overall to improve to 3-1 on the season.

Rookie Josh Meyers had his first multiple-point game of the year for Utah with two assists. Nikiforov had one goal and one assist for his second-straight multiple-point night.

Utah returns home Wednesday and Friday to host Idaho at the E-Center. Face-off both evenings is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.