The Las Vegas Thunder will get their first shot at avenging last year's Western Conference Finals loss to the Utah Grizzlies when the two teams square off tonight at 8 in the Thomas & Mack Center.
Utah hasn't played since suffering its first loss of the season this past Monday, a 2-1 shootout defeat against Chicago. The Grizzlies, who are 8-0-1, lead the IHL with 16 points. Las Vegas, which had the best regular season record last year, is 5-5-1 so far, not counting a late game against Long Beach last night.The Grizzlies downed the Thunder in the six-game conference final series last May but are a considerably different squad now. Only seven Utah players remain from last season's Turner Cup championship team, which received a shower of oranges that were thrown by angry fans during the deciding Game 6 in Las Vegas.
Utah took a blow this week when the parent club New York Islanders called up their leading scorer in center Claude Lapointe. However, Utah coach Butch Goring said that left winger Craig Fisher will be back in the lineup after suffering a groin injury last weekend. Fisher, who has five goals and six assists, missed the last two games because of the injury. Goring also said that goalie Tommy Soderstrom, who was again sent down by New York this week, would likely see his first action for Utah tonight. Mark McArthur had started and played extremely well in all nine of Utah's games.
Las Vegas is powered by Pavol Demitra and Patrice Lefebvre, who each have 11 points. Former Grizzly Egor Bashkatov is also playing well for the Thunder with seven assists and two goals.
Tonight's game will be broadcast live on 860-AM KCNR.