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Having dropped the first two contests against the ECHL's best team, the Utah Grizzlies entered Saturday night's game against the Toledo Walleye hoping to salvage the finale of the three-game series. But Toledo dominated the Grizzlies 5-2, demonstrating why it is one of the early favorites for the Kelly Cup.

"We keep putting ourselves down early and every time they scored we had chances at the other end that we failed to capitalize on," Utah coach Tim Branham said. "It's night after night when you don't bury your chances that it gets tough on the psyche and tough to come back, especially against a team like Toledo."

Toledo scored on its second shot of the game, as Scott Czarnowczan's slapper beat Utah goalie Troy Redmann at 1:34 of the first period. A.J. Jenks later led an odd man rush and fired a shot past Redmann for a 2-0 advantage.

In the second period, Toledo's Tyson Spink scored on a power play at 1:54 and Tyler Sikura scored at 7:37. Trailing 4-0, the Grizzlies pulled Redmann in favor of Ryan McKay.

Toledo goalie Jake Paterson was sensational overall, but the Grizzlies' 20th shot on goal got the home team on the board in the third period.

Ralph Cuddemi blistered the net with a slapshot, and Brad Navin added a second goal with 1:14 remaining to cut the deficit to 4-2. Branham pulled McKay to cut into the lead further, and Toledo scored an empty-netter for the final margin of victory. —

ECHL standings

EASTERN CONFERENCE

North GP W L OL SL Pts GF GA

Manchester 26 17 7 1 1 36 100 77

Adirondack 25 14 6 2 3 33 87 71

Brampton 25 14 8 1 2 31 96 94

Reading 26 14 10 1 1 30 90 81

Wheeling 24 12 10 2 0 26 79 77

Elmira 24 6 14 4 0 16 55 83

South GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA

Orlando 26 16 7 3 0 35 103 83

Florida 24 16 5 1 2 35 88 72

Greenville 25 14 9 2 0 30 79 77

South Carolina 24 12 10 1 1 26 68 66

Atlanta 28 11 13 3 1 26 100 110

Cincinnati 25 11 10 4 0 26 71 76

Norfolk 26 5 17 4 0 14 57 100

Western Conference

Central GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA

Toledo 25 21 4 0 0 42 112 71

Tulsa 28 16 10 2 0 34 79 76

Fort Wayne 24 14 7 3 0 31 90 71

Quad City 24 14 7 1 2 31 72 63

Wichita 21 11 9 0 1 23 64 65

Kalamazoo 27 10 15 0 2 22 65 95

Indy 25 8 15 1 1 18 59 94

Mountain GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA

Colorado 27 17 6 1 3 38 91 78

Alaska 25 15 5 1 4 35 88 69

Idaho 27 15 9 2 1 33 92 84

Allen 28 14 13 1 0 29 88 84

Missouri 26 10 11 1 4 25 76 90

Rapid City 26 8 13 5 0 21 78 95

Utah 27 9 16 1 1 20 73 98

Saturday's Games

Manchester 4, Elmira 2

Kalamazoo 3, Orlando 2, OT

Brampton 3, Adirondack 0

Atlanta 3, Florida 2

Norfolk 5, South Carolina 2

Fort Wayne 4, Wheeling 3

Quad City 6, Indy 2

Colorado 1, Tulsa 0

Alaska 2, Missouri 1, SO

Toledo 5, Utah 2

Idaho 5, Rapid City 2

Sunday's Games

Quad City at Kalamazoo, 1 p.m.

Orlando at Fort Wayne, 3 p.m.

Allen at Wichita, 3:05 p.m.