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West Valley City, Utah - The Utah Grizzlies defeated the Victoria Salmon Kings 8-3 Sunday evening at the E-Center to win the best-of-seven National Conference best-of-seven playoffs series four games to one. The Grizzlies open the National Conference Finals Monday, May 12 in Las Vegas at 8:05 p.m.
On Sunday, the Grizzlies jumped up 2:09 into the first and never looked back as Ryan Kinasewich scored his seventh goal of the playoffs and his sixth of the five-game series on the power-play to give Utah a 1-0 lead. At 6:13, Olivier Labelle redirected home a Ryan Cruthers centering attempt to give Utah a 2-0 lead on an odd-man rush. Victoria made it 2-1 off of a face-off win at 10:10.
Late in the first and early in the second, Utah killed 1:10 of a Victoria five-on-three power-play to keep the game 2-1. Utah was awarded a power-play in the second period and once again struck early in the period with Labelle knocking another puck in to give Utah a 3-1 lead. 28 seconds later Micheal Haley picked up a Victoria turnover and fired the puck past Salmon Kings netminder Billy Thompson to give Utah a 4-1 lead.
The Grizzlies scored their third power-play goal of the game 12:20 into the second when Keith Johnson fired a puck from the left-wing circle past Thompson for his sixth goal of the playoffs.
Utah scored three goals in the first 4:45 of the third period to take an 8-1 lead. First, Olivier Labelle and Scott Burt fed defenseman Sean Offers on a breakway for his first goal of the playoffs at 2:45. Justin Bourne added his second of the playoffs 24 seconds later at 3:09 and Utah was up 7-1 before Rob Sirianni capped off the Utah scoring and three goals in two minutes with a goal at 4:45.
The Salmon Kings added two late goals to make the score 8-3 and that was the final.
Goaltender Mike Mole stopped 35 of 38 in the game to improve to 3-0 in the playoffs.
The Utah power-play went four for seven and five for six on the penalty-kill.
12 Utah skaters scored in the game.
Game Notes Utah has now won four-straight games at the E-Center for the first time since they won six-straight games at home February 4-17 of 2006.
Four power-play goals for Utah at home set a season-high.
Utah is now 2-0 when they have the opportunity to close out the opposition in a series in this year's playoffs.
Ryan Kinasewich has scored Utah's first goal of the game in three-straight contests
Grizzlies Announce Schedule For Conference Finals
West Valley City, Utah - The Utah Grizzlies have announced their schedule and opponent for the National Conference Finals. Utah will face Las Vegas starting Monday, May 12 in the 2-3-2 best-of seven series. Utah defeated the Victoria Salmon Kings this afternoon 8-3 at the E-Center to complete their semifinal series in five games after defeating Fresno in six games in the first round.
Series Schedule Utah @ Las Vegas - Monday, May 12, 8:05 p.m. Utah @ Las Vegas - Tuesday, May 13, 8:05 p.m. Las Vegas @ Utah - Thursday, May 15, 7:05 p.m. Las Vegas @ Utah - Friday, May 16, 7:05 p.m. Las Vegas @ Utah - Sunday, May 18, 4:05 p.m. (Game 5 - If Necessary) Utah @ Las Vegas - Tuesday, May 20, 8:05 p.m. (Game 6 - If Necessary) Utah @ Las Vegas - Wednesday, May 21, 8:05 p.m. (Game 7 - If Necessary)
Utah is proud to be the ECHL affiliate of the New York Islanders and the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
The Wranglers completed their National Conference semifinal series in five games as they dispatched of the Alaska Aces. That series completed with a Las Vegas 6-3 win Friday in Anchorage.
Tickets for the conference finals are on sale now at the E-Center box office, any Smith's Tix location and at www.utahgrizzlies.com
All Grizzlies games are broadcast live on Utah Grizzlies Radio 860 AM in Salt Lake City and on www.utahgrizzlies.com. Pre-game coverage starts 30 minutes prior to face-off.
