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West Valley City • The Utah Grizzlies squandered a two-goal lead, trailed in the third period, tied the game in the final eight minutes, played most of the overtime short-handed, and won in a six-deep shootout.
Ho, hum.
Just another night in the ECHL.
Paul McIlveen scored a goal and assisted on another Friday night at the Maverik Center, helping Utah defeat Colorado, 4-3.
The Grizzlies outshot the Eagles 53-25. But they didn't prevail until Nick Tuzzolino beat Colorado goalie Kyle Jones and Utah's Andrew Engelage stopped Ryan Kaunisto in the shootout.
For Tuzzilino, it was a perfect ending.
He was called for high-sticking in overtime — extending a Colorado power play — and angrily chased referee Mike McBain to protest.
"… I had one hand on my stick and hit him in the hand," Tuzzolino said. "The guy grabs his face and goes down and we end up short again.
"But he's a great referee. He's in the heat of the moment, too. So he sees what he sees and I've never seen a call reversed. So it's my bad for yelling like I did."
After Engelage and Jones stopped three of the first five attempts in the shootout, Grizzlies coach Kevin Colley asked Tuzzolino to win the game.
Was he surprised?
"Any time he tells a [defenseman] to go, it's kind of a surprise," Tuzzolino said. "But I won the shootout earlier in the week for practice, so I thought there might be a chance."
Tuzzolino beat Jones by faking a shot, pulling the puck to his backhand and sliding it into the goal.
"I had watched him," Tuzzolino said. "He was sitting back in his paint a lot. He wasn't moving much. I wanted to see if I could come down and make him bite and, as soon as he did, I went to my backhand."
Grizzlies 4, Eagles 3 (SO)
• The Grizzlies score a 4-3 shootout victory over Colorado in ECHL action at the Maverik Center.
• Utah goalie Andrew Engelage stops four of six Eagle attempts in the shootout.
• The Grizzlies improve to 3-1 this season after outshooting Colorado 53-25.