After going 3-1 on their recent homestand, the Utah Grizzlies, 17-10-2, take in a night in Las Vegas tonight at 8 MST and then return to the E Center to host the Las Vegas Wranglers on New Year's Eve at 6 and New Year's Night at 6.
It could be a rough stretch for Utah.
The Wranglers have a five-point lead in the standings over every other team in the ECHL with 48 points on the strength of a 12-game win streak, and they have only one loss this season at home, in overtime. Utah remains fourth in the West Division but is tied for sixth overall in the ECHL.
Newcomer Trevor Baker and relatively new Ryan Kinasewich are each coming off four-point games Tuesday night, when Utah beat Idaho in the E Center 6-5 after falling to the Steelheads Monday 4-3. For Kinasewich, it was the second four-point game in his past five outings. Also hot for the Grizzlies lately is West Valley native and rookie D.J. Jelitto, who has three goals in the past four games.
But the Grizzlies may be without high-scoring center Jeff Miles, who was loaned to the AHL Milwaukee Admirals this week. In 28 games, Miles has 12 goals and 18 assists, and eight of the goals came in third periods.
Las Vegas has two of the ECHL's top four goaltenders, with Mike McKenna holding the No. 2 goals-against average (1.93) and Marc Magliarditi the No. 4 2.21 average. McKenna is unbeaten, 9-0-0.