Utah Grizzlies rally, edge Aces in shootout

WEST VALLEY CITY — The Utah Grizzlies defeated the Alaska Aces 3-2 in a shootout Friday evening at Maverik Center.

Grizzlies rookie goaltender Adam Morrison stopped 33 of 35 shots in his Utah debut and all four in the shutout to earn the win two days after being assigned to Utah from the Boston Bruins.

Utah, skating three players short due to injuries, battled back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to force overtime and win the shootout 2-0.

"It was enjoyable tonight, they played as a team," said Grizzlies head coach Kevin Colley. "Even if we had run out of gas in the final 20 minutes, I still would have been proud of the guys because they worked hard, they were playing for each other and tonight they were a coachable bunch and it's a well deserved win for that group in there."

Colin Vock's team-leading 19th goal of the year tied the game at one with 1:57 left in the first period.

Utah tied the game at two 38 seconds after Alaska took a 2-1 lead as Mitch Wahl scored his 19th goal of the year as Vock and Nick Tuzzolino drew assists on the power-play goal with 1:15 left in the second period.

The Grizzlies drew a power-play late in the third period that carried into overtime, but they were unable to net the game-winner. Utah was then forced to kill a penalty of its own, four-on-three.

Bryan Cameron and Adam Estoclet scored in the shootout as Morrison stopped all four shots that he saw.