Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
WEST VALLEY CITY — Utah's David Vallorani was happy to be back home Saturday night at the Maverik Center and he netted not one, not two, but three goals for his first career hat trick in leading the Grizzlies back-to-back wins with a 5-3 win over the Colorado Eagles.
The Grizzlies' success came from the power play with four goals on eight opportunities.
Varllorani's two first-quarter goals came on the power play. His second goal, which came with 0.4 left in the period, came with a two-man advantage.
"It felt good. I just found the net," Vallorani said. "We have the ability to be a really good team."
Less that three minutes into the second period, Vallorani recorded a steal and then notched a goal for his hat trick. The goal was also his eighth of the season.
Jamie MacQueen, who had a hat trick on opening night for the Grizzlies, got in the action as well in the second period with a 5-3 power-play goal for his team-leading 10th goal of the season.
Michael Pelech scored the lone third period goal for the Grizzlies to finish off the game.
Aaron Dell, who recently returned after a stint in the AHL, improved to 4-1 in the net by stopping 26 of 29 Eagle shots.
With the win the Grizzlies, who have six power-play goals in their last two games, improve to 7-4-1-2 on home ice. In addition, the Grizzlies improve to 10-4-1-2 all-time against Colorado on home ice.
“It feels good to be back home," Utah coach Tim Branham said. "It’s a new start and we’re off to a good one.”
The Grizzlies will look for their third start win on New Year’s Eve when they take on Las Vegas. Early puck drop is 6 p.m. Follow David Winkworth on Twitter @RealDavidVito and listen to his podcast at http://sportsathome.webs.com/ for all the latest news and notes around the sporting world.
