Grizz watch scores, then win

WEST VALLEY CITY — Normally, Utah Grizzlies players try to avoid any news about other games around the league while their game is in progress.

David Oliver abandoned that philosophy Friday night.

He sought out the AHL scores during the second intermission, and after learning the three teams chasing the Grizzlies for playoff positioning all won, he announced the news to his teammates.

"Well, everyone else has won, so we will do the same," said Utah's Jim Montgomery about his reaction to the news.

The Grizzlies must've used the news as motivation. They played inspired hockey during the third period, and the constant hustle finally paid dividends as Montgomery scored an electrifying goal in the waning minutes to lead Utah to a 3-2 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins.

"He's been giving us big goals all year," said Utah coach Don Hay. "It was a big goal at a critical time."

Montgomery's goal came with 1:21 left on the clock — when hope was begin to fade among the 10,107 fans in the E Center. All night the Grizzlies hammered Griffins' goalie Marc Lamothe, but just like in a shutout loss to Grand Rapids Wednesday, the Grizzlies couldn't capitalize on those chances.

The Griffins reluctantly gave Utah one last chance. With both teams on a line change, Utah's Steve Gainey intercepted the puck in the neutral zone and fired it up ahead to Montgomery who had just come off the bench. Just when Montgomery thought he was in a one-on-one situation, another defenseman came off the bench forcing him to rethink his options.

Montgomery eased up, and fired a shot on goal.

"I didn't think I put it in a good enough spot to score," said Montgomery.

How wrong he was. His shot whistled just underneath Lamothe's right arm and into the net for the critical game-winning goal.

With two games remaining, now all the Grizzlies need to assure themselves of a playoff spot is to win either Saturday or Sunday in Milwaukee, where they are 1-2 this year. The Grizzlies could still make the playoffs with zero wins, but they'd rather not leave it to chance.

As Oliver found out during the second intermission, the team's chasing Utah are red-hot. Wilkes-Barre won to remain in an eighth-place tie with Utah with 81 points. Rochester and Philadelphia, who were all but eliminated two weeks ago, also won again to stay in a ninth-place tie with 79 points.

"Now we have to keep it going," said Hay. "We just cannot have a letdown."