Utah Grizzlies fall on road in shootout

Ontario, Calif. — The Ontario Reign defeated the Utah Grizzlies 6-5 in a shootout Friday night in Ontario as Utah battled back from 4-1 and 5-2 deficits to tie the contest at 5 with 9:16 left in the third period.

The Grizzlies go to 2-1-0-1 on their current seven-game road trip with their third come-from-behind effort in eight days.

Trailing 5-2 with just over five minutes left in the second period, Utah got back-to-back goals from Colin Vock in a 2:02 stretch to make it 5-4 going to the third period.

In the third, Utah picked up an Ontario turnover and Nick Tuzzolino fed Bryan Cameron in the left circle as he buried a puck into the open net.

Utah dug themselves an early hole, falling behind 2-0 in the first 12:17 of the first period and seeing the score 3-1 Ontario at the first intermission as the Reign took advantage of several Utah giveaways.

The Reign made it 4-1 2:38 into the second period off of another Utah turnover as Shane Owen replaced Andrew Engelage in goal after the rocky start in front of him.

Berkley Scott hammered in a puck on his own rebound 58 seconds later to make it 4-2.

Utah leading scorer Mitch Wahl led the Grizzlies with three assists and a plus-two. Nick Tuzzolino had two assists for his third two-assist game in the last week since rejoining Utah from the AHL.

Utah and Ontario continue their series tonight at 7 p.m. from California.

The Grizzlies are back home Friday, February 9 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, February 10 at 4 p.m. to host Idaho.