FRESNO, Calif. — Once again the Utah Grizzlies fell behind early, but four straight goals and some strong goaltending enabled them to win a game against the Fresno Falcons, 4-1, late Friday.
Fresno took the lead at 10:22 of the opening frame when Peter Fregoe redirected a shot from Luke Curtin past Alfie Michaud for his second goal of the season. The Grizzles had some chances but didn't connect until seven minutes later when Anthony Battaglia tipped a shot into the Fresno net. Matt Craig beat Falcons goaltender Mike Brown just over a minute later to give the Grizz a one-goal lead entering the second period.
The Grizzlies special teams went to work in the second period. Craig scored his second goal of the night, this one on the power play, from Tom Reimann and Chris Leinweber, to put Utah up by two goals. The Grizzlies' penalty killers managed to nullify a Fresno 5-on-3, then the power play kicked in again, when Reimann found Louis Dumont for his fourth of the season, during a Grizzlies 5-on-3 advantage.
There was no scoring in the third period, and Michaud made seven more saves to finish the night with 26 saves on 27 shots for Utah.
The Grizzlies played late Saturday at Long Beach and will play the Ice Dogs again Sunday evening.