The Utah Grizzlies defeated the Allen Americans, 4-1, on Friday night at Allen Event Center to even the best-of-seven series at one headed back to Utah.
“I thought we stuck to the game plan for the second game in a row and tonight we were able to secure the victory,” said head coach and General Manager Tim Branham.
Anaheim Ducks prospect Kevin Boyle stopped the first 27 shots that he saw and 36-of-37 in the game to earn his first professional playoff win in goal.
“He controlled rebounds, made big saves and played the puck extremely well tonight,” said Branham on goaltender Boyle.
Austen Brassard gave Utah a 1-0 lead off a faceoff with 2:43 left in the first period off a Jon Puskar (one goal, two assists) faceoff win.
C.J. Eick (one goal, one assist) gave Utah a 2-0 lead 7:28 into the second period on a breakaway pass from Puskar as Garrett Haar also picked up an assist.
At 17:54 of the second, Puskar made it 3-0 as he knocked in a rebound on an Eick shot as the Grizzlies came back in transition with Brassard picking up an assist as well.
Just 1:35 later with 31 seconds left in the second period, Michael Pelech took a tic-tac-toe pass and scored from the right circle on the power play as Erik Bradford and Erik Higby picked up assists.
Allen outshot Utah, 17-5, in the final period as the Grizzlies killed off two penalties where Allen pulled their goal to go six-on-four.
Utah went 1-4 on the power play and 2-2 on the penalty kill.
The Grizzlies next play Allen in game three on Wednesday, April 19, at 7 p.m.