West Valley City • Paul McIlveen backed into the boards and shrugged as the goal’s siren blared for the fourth time at his doing.
His fourth goal — the capping goal in a third-period hat trick — finished off a 6-3 win for the Utah Grizzlies (17-18-0-4) over the Bakersfield Condors (9-27-3-1) on Thursday at the Maverik Center.
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Highlights
The Utah Grizzlies blow by the Bakersfield Condors 6-3 behind a four-goal game from Paul McIlveen.» Utah outscores Bakersfield 4-0 over the last 24:24 to get two points.
» McIlveen and Mitch Fadden combine for five goals and four assists for the Grizz.
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McIlveen’s final goal didn’t require a whole lot of flash as he simply banged in a rebound on an open net, but it pleased the 4,845 fans in attendance all the same.
"Of course you’d like to make a play to set up a goal, but if you can’t, you can’t complain about an open-net goal," McIlveen said with a big smile.
It wasn’t all giggles and sunshine for the Grizzlies, who trailed 3-2 late in the second period and entered the third period tied 3-3. But that was when McIlveen heated up. Mitch Fadden slipped him a pass from behind the net that McIlveen slapped home at 12:26 in the third for a 4-3 lead. He scored again at 16:54 and notched his fourth on a power play against a defeated Condor team.
"Guys battled through adversity and were tired in the third period but gave us their best 20 minutes," Fadden said.
Fadden had a stellar night, albeit overshadowed by McIlveen. Fadden opened the scoring at 2:13 in the first period with a goal on an odd-man rush and assisted three more scores.
It was the type of evening that Utah hopes to build on even if it was against the lowly Condors.
"We’ve been struggling a bit," McIlveen said. "It doesn’t matter if a team’s first or a team’s last, any team can win on any night."
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