Dallas/Allen, Texas – The Allen Americans, ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators, faced the Utah Grizzlies on Friday night in front of a packed house at CUTX Event Center. The Grizzlies took game one of the weekend series 3-2 in overtime.
Utah had the only goal of the opening period as Neal Shea returned to the Grizzlies lineup and scored his eighth goal of the season. He had missed the previous 18 games. Utah outshot the Americans 15-11 in the opening period.
The Americans improved their play in the middle frame, scoring twice. Colby McAuley on a rebound in front of the Utah net scored his 17th of the season. Then Michael Gildon with some nifty stickhandling in front of the Utah net beating Kyle Keyser for his 12th of the year to give the Americans a 2-1 lead after two periods.
The Grizzlies tied the game early in the third period as Reilly Connors scored his 13th goal of the season to even the score at 2-2. It remained tied headed into three-on-three overtime. It didn’t take long as Tyler Gratton took advantage of an Americans turnover and made the Americans pay scoring his 15th goal of the season to give Utah the extra point and the win. The Americans outshot the Grizzlies 41-39 for the game.
The final game of the weekend series is on Saturday night at 7:10 PM on O’Reilly McDonalds Night in Allen.
They Said it:
Jason Deitsch: “We didn’t have a great start but picked up our game in the second period. It was a tough way to lose the game in overtime. We fell and they took advantage of our mistake. We need to come out tomorrow and be better from the start.”
Three Stars:
1. Tyler Gratton – Utah
2. Michael Gildon – Allen
3. Reilly Connors – Utah