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Three periods of hockey had elapsed in Wednesday night's contest at the Maverik Center between the Utah Grizzlies and Tulsa Oilers. Although the shots were 42 to 12 — in favor of the home team — the scoreboard read Grizzlies 2, Oilers 2. With the matter still undecided following the five minute overtime session, a shootout ensued.

While Tulsa's Brady Ramsay and Adam Pleskach wove down the ice and beat Utah goaltender Ryan Faragher, neither Utah's Barry Almeida nor Charles Sarault would get the puck past Oiler goalie Jussi Olkinuora. By all accounts, what should have been a convincing Utah victory was relegated to a one-point overtime loss salvage. There are just seven games remaining in the schedule, and Utah now trails Idaho by four points in the race for first place in the Western Division.

"For us, we need to have that killer instinct," head coach Tim Branham said. "This is a big weekend to catch Idaho. It's up to this group; if they want to play, they can beat any team if they choose to work."

Utah jumped out to a lead in the first period as Sarault rescued an errant Tulsa pass and sent it to wide-open teammate Almeida. The forward deked Olkinuora to one side and deposited the puck into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. The Grizzlies would improve on that lead early in the second as Utah was the beneficiary of two consecutive Oiler minor penalties. With a rare five on three power play opportunity, Utah fired a barrage of shots until Ryan Hayes' effort got past the hapless Olkinuora for a two-goal advantage.

However, the tables turned later in the frame as the Grizzlies found themselves on the wrong end of the second five on three power play in the contest. Only five seconds had lapsed into the two man advantage when Oiler forward Christophe Lalancette blistered a slapshot past Faragher. Yet another penalty resulted in Tulsa's second goal of the night. With Utah forward Jon Puskar watching from the box, Phil Brewer leveled the game at 2-2 at the 17:21 mark. —

ECHL standings EASTERN CONFERENCE

East GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA

Manchester 66 37 20 4 5 83 203 194

Adirondack 65 35 24 2 4 76 176 166

Reading 65 32 24 5 4 73 201 176

Elmira 65 34 27 3 1 72 184 192

Norfolk 64 27 32 4 1 59 180 204

North GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA

x-Toledo 64 41 18 2 3 87 196 152

Wheeling 65 34 23 3 5 76 197 188

Kalamazoo 64 31 28 4 1 67 200 213

Brampton 63 18 34 7 4 47 154 229

South GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA

South Carolina 64 38 18 5 3 84 196 145

Florida 63 40 21 0 2 82 190 151

Orlando 63 31 24 3 5 70 203 200

Atlanta 64 30 27 5 2 67 169 201

Greenville 64 28 27 8 1 65 185 208

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Central GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA

y-Missouri 64 49 10 3 2 103 215 140

Allen 65 36 22 3 4 79 199 187

Tulsa 62 32 25 3 2 69 163 163

Wichita 65 16 37 6 6 44 140 222

Midwest GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA

Fort Wayne 64 36 20 6 2 80 214 172

Cincinnati 63 33 22 4 4 74 192 173

Quad City 63 31 26 4 2 68 172 182

Evansville 64 26 29 7 2 61 184 214

Indy 65 29 33 3 0 61 153 177

West GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA

Idaho 64 35 21 5 3 78 181 162

Utah 65 34 25 3 3 74 200 188

Colorado 63 33 26 3 1 70 194 169

Rapid City 64 27 31 3 3 60 155 187

Alaska 64 24 33 4 3 55 170 211

Wednesday's games

Orlando 6, Greenville 3

Brampton 4, Manchester 2

Kalamazoo 3, Reading 2

Fort Wayne 1, Wheeling 0, SO

Missouri 2, Evansville 1, OT

Tulsa 3, Utah 2, SO

Thursday's games

Cincinnati at Indy, 5:05 p.m.

South Carolina at Atlanta, 5:05 p.m.

Rapid City at Alaska, 9:15 p.m.

Friday's games

Wheeling at Kalamazoo, 5 p.m.

Manchester at Reading, 5 p.m.

Brampton at Elmira, 5:05 p.m.

Orlando at Norfolk, 5:30 p.m.

Greenville at Florida, 5:30 p.m.

Cincinnati at Indy, 5:35 p.m.

Toledo at Fort Wayne, 6 p.m.

Evansville at Quad City, 6:05 p.m.

Tulsa at Utah, 7:05 p.m.

Colorado at Idaho, 7:10 p.m.

Rapid City at Alaska, 9:15 p.m.