The Tahoe Knight Monsters took on the Utah Grizzlies on Sunday. Puck drop was at 3:00 PM. The theme for the game was winter wonderland. There was a toy drive at the game. Everyone who donated to the toy drive was entered into a drawing to win a team signed jersey. Santa was supposed to make appearances Saturday and Sunday. The Knight Monsters announced Saturday by text message that Santa was not going to make it to either game due to the weather. He was able to show up on Sunday. The game was at the Tahoe Blue Event Center in Stateline, Nevada. It was the twenty third game of the season. The Tahoe Knight Monsters were coming off of a 5-2 victory over the Utah Grizzlies. The Knight Monsters were on a six game winning streak. The Tahoe Knight Monsters had a record of 14-6-2. The Knight Monsters were in 8th place in the ECHL. The Knight Monsters were 3rd in the Western Conference and 2nd in the Mountain Division. The Utah Grizzlies are the ECHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche. The Grizzlies played twenty two games. The Grizzlies were coming off of a 2-5 loss to the Tahoe Knight Monsters. The Grizzlies were on a twelve game losing streak. The Grizzlies had a record of 5-15-2. The Grizzlies were in 28th place in the ECHL. That is second to last. The Grizzlies were in 14th place in the Western Conference which is also second to last place. They were in 8th place in the Mountain Division which is last.
Both teams played twenty two games. The Tahoe Knight Monsters had nine more wins. The Knight Monsters had the better points percentage. The Tahoe Knight Monsters had scored thirty more goals. The Utah Grizzlies had allowed thirty four more goals. The Knight Monsters had the better goal differential. The Knight Monsters had eighteen more points. The Tahoe Knight Monsters had 212 penalty minutes. The Utah Grizzlies had 240 penalty minutes. Would the Knight Monsters continue their winning streak? Would the Grizzlies break their losing streak?
#1 Jesper Vikman was in net for the Tahoe Knight Monsters. This was his eleventh start for the Tahoe Knight Monsters this season. #35 Vinny Duplessis got the start in net for the Utah Grizzlies. It was his fifth start of the season for the Grizzlies. On Sunday, Forward Neil Shea was assigned to the Utah Grizzlies by the Colorado Eagles. Forward Brayden Nicholetts and forward Aaron Aragon were placed on reserve by the Grizzlies. Defender Dilan Savenkov was moved to 14-day injured reserve by the Grizzlies.
With six minutes left in the first period, #21 Sloan Stanick scored the goal. His goal was assisted by Simon Pinard. On the rush, Pinard left the puck for Stanick with a drop pass. Stanick took a shot from the roulette wheel that went in. After the goal, #6 Andrew Nielson of the Utah Grizzlies received a penalty for roughing.
With five minutes left in the first period, #13 Simon Pinard scored on the powerplay to give the Tahoe Knight Monsters a two goal lead. His goal was assisted by #10 Jett Jones and #12 Bear Hughes. On the rush, Hughes passed the puck to Pinard near the blue line. Pinard passed the puck to Jones. Jones passed the puck back to Pinard. Pinard took a shot from the roulette wheel and scored. This powerplay was not looking good in the beginning. The Grizzles had tw really good chances on the penalty kill. They had a 2-on-1 breakaway and a breakaway. On the breakaway the shot hit the cross bar. The Knight Monsters quickly turned it around by scoring right after the Grizzlies almost scored on a breakaway. Solid team work from the Knight Monsters. Good recognition to get an odd man rush on the powerplay.
With three minutes left in the first period, the Knight Monsters took a three goal lead. The goal was scored by #10 Jett Jones. It was assisted by #14 Patrick Newell and #9 Troy Loggins. After a couple of quick saves, Newell took a shot that went over the net. Jones got the puck from behind the net as it was bouncing back towards the front. Jones then stuffed it into the net. The Grizzlies goal did not get back in time leaving the net mostly open for Jones. The Grizzlies could not stop the pressure on this play coming from the Knight Monsters.
The score was 3-0 Tahoe Knight Monsters after the first period.
In between the first and second periods, the Lake Tahoe Lakers of the USPHL were singing carols on the concourse with Santa. I did also hear that they were doing this before the game. Either way it is always fi=un to see the holiday cheer.
Just over a minute into the second period #15 Jake McGrew of the Tahoe Knight Monsters received a penalty for high-sticking and #6 Andrew Nielson received a penalty for holding the stick. On the 4-on4, the Utah Grizzlies scored their first goal of the game to cut the Tahoe Knight Monsters lead down to two goals. The goal was scored by #8 Keaton Mastrodonato. It was assisted by #5 Derek Daschke and #24 Gianni Fairbrother. The Grizzlies enter the offensive zone on a 3-on-2 odd man rush. Daschke tried to take the puck through the slot. The Knight Monsters defender was able to take the puck away but his clearing attempt was blocked by Mastrodonato. He then shot the puck in the slot and scored. It looked like a soft clearing attempt by the Knight Monsters. It looked like the defender was trying to pass the puck up instead of clearing it to the neutral zone. The other Knight Monsters player was not able to get to the puck in time. This mistake turned into a Grizzlies goal. With Mastrodonato coming into the Knight Monsters zone late, if the puck was cleared into the neutral zone, I think it would have turned into a break away since their was already a Knight Monsters player high in the zone.
Two minutes into the second period, the Knight Monsters retook their three goal lead. #49 Artur Cholach scored the goal. It was assisted by #17 Adam Robbins. The Knight Monsters were cycling the puck in the Grizzlies end. Robbins took the puck behind the net. He passed it to the high slot. Cholach scored. This was another play where the pressure was too much for the Grizzlies. This was the millionth goal where the Knight Monsters took the puck behind the net, passed it to the slot and scored on the Grizzlies.
Five minutes into the second period, head coach Alex Loh got into a heated discussion with the official over a no call. Six minutes into the second period, #9 Troy Loggins of the Tahoe Knight Monsters received a penalty for roughing and #8 Keaton Mastrodonato of the Utah Grizzlies received a penalty for roughing. This play was crazy. #4 Branson Tabakin of the Knight Monsters went back to the bench looking injured as the play went from the Knight Monsters end to the Grizzlies end. The Knight Monsters appeared to score. The goal buzzer went off. The ref waved that the shot did not go in. I didn’t see if the red light went off during the play. As the officials blew the play dead, Mastrodonato grabbed Loggins and they went into the corner. Loggins was ambushed and couldn’t do much with his head down but they both got some jabs in there before the linesmen broke it up. ten minutes into the second period, the Tahoe Knight Monsters received a penalty for too many men. On the powerplay the Grizzlies scored to cut the lead back down to two goals. #16 Luke Manning scored the goal. It was assisted by #14 Briley Wood and #6 Andrew Nielsen. The Grizzlies were cycling the puck in the offensive zone. The Knight Monsters were getting back into their defensive positions. Nelson took a shot from the point that went in. This was a case of poor discipline by the Knight Monsters that turned into a goal for the Grizzlies. The Knight Monsters took a bad penalty. The Grizzlies made them pay.
The score was 4-2 after heading into the third period.
Thirty one seconds into the third period, #12 Bear Hughes of the Tahoe Knight Monsters received a penalty for roughing and #24 Gianni Fairbrother of the Utah Grizzlies received a penalty for roughing. Seven minutes into the third period, #23 Jake Johnson of the Knight Monsters received a penalty for cross-checking. Ten minutes into the third period, #21 Sloan Stanick scored to extend the Knight Monsters lead back to three goals. His goal was assisted by #13 Simon Pinard. The Knight Monsters managed to get a short two man breakaway. Pinard waited until the last second to pass the puck. Stanick had a wide open net to score on. This was a case of Pinard tricking the goalie. By the time the Stanick got the puck the goalie was not in a position where he could save a shot from a pass. The goalie did everything right here the defenders were not there to stop the pass.
With six minutes left in the game, the Grizzlies scored to cut the lead back down to two goals. #74 James Shearer scored the goal. His goal was assisted by #11 Cameron Buhl and #27 Cade Neilson. Buhl took a shot from the point. Shearer was open to score on the rebound. The Knight Monsters where not where they needed to be defensively. The Grizzlies took advantage of that.
Forty seconds after the Grizzlies scored, #21 Sloan Stanick scored to complete a hat trick and get the Knight Monsters back up by three goals. His goal was assisted by #13 Simon Pinard and #49 Artur Cholach. The Knight Monsters won an offensive zone faceoff. Cholach got the puck to Pinard. Pinard got the puck to Stanick in the slot. Stanick’s shot went in. The Knight Monsters did a great job here of quickly setting up the play and putting pressure on the Grizzlies. It payed off. This is the second hat trick in Knight Monsters history. No one realized it was a hat trick. No hats hit the ice. That is kind of a bummer. Everyone realized it was a hat trick after the announcement. I think that because the Grizzlies goal was being announced people were not paying attention to who was scoring for the Knight Monsters. If I realized I would have thrown my hat. I think that is part of the growing pains of being a new team.
With three minutes left in the game, The Knight Monsters scored again. #9 Troy Loggins scored the goal. It was assisted by #10 Jett Jones. The Knight Monsters won an offensive zone faceoff. Jones quickly shot the puck from the slot. His shot found the back of the net. The goalie was expecting the shot to hit him in the chest. By the time he realized it wasn’t, the puck was in the net. It was a quick play from the Knight Monsters. Again they were trying to establish pressure on the Grizzlies quickly. It worked out better than last time here. On the Grizzlies side, three defenders couldn’t get the puck or stop the shot. Their goalie made a mistake and paid for it.
The final score was 7-3 Tahoe Knight Monsters.
Link #1: https://echl.com/videos/utah-grizzlies-vs-tahoe-knight-monsters-dec-15-2024
Link #2: https://www.facebook.com/knightmonsters/videos/1094141928666863
The Tahoe Knight Monsters offense continues to be on fire. The Utah Grizzlies defense continues to be able to do nothing about it. This was never a close game. The Grizzlies never got close. They struggle to stay competitive with the Knight Monsters. I do not feel bad for the Grizzlies goalie. He has no defense in front of him but he also was not making key saves to keep his team in the game. I will give the Grizzlies credit, they did not give up in this game like they did in Saturdays game. The Grizzlies are scoring goals. At the same time they are playing poor defense and have unreliable goaltending. The Knight Monsters have goaltending that mad key saves to keep the Grizzlies from catching up. The Knight Monsters defense was not letting the Grizzlies get much going in the Knight Monsters zone for the most part. Of course the Knight Monsters offense is striking first, striking hard, and showing no mercy. I did see some heated exchanges on the bench between #49 Anthony Collins of the Knight Monsters and the coaching staff on the bench. I do not know what that was about. It might have had something to do with Collins taking exceptions to some of what the Grizzlies players were doing and coaching staff telling him not to fight or take penalties. The Tahoe Knight Monsters have won seven games in a row. The Utah Grizzlies have now lost thirteen games in a row. This was a great home stand for the Knight Monsters. The Knight Monsters scored no less than five goals each game. The Knight Monsters out scored the grizzlies 20-7 over three games.
The Knight Monsters had more three more shots. The Tahoe Knight Monsters had the better shot percentage. Both teams had ten penalty minutes. #1 Jesper Vikman saved 24 shots for a 89% save percentage for the Tahoe Knight Monsters. #35 Vinny Duplessis saved 23 shots for an 77% save percentage for the Grizzlies.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters now have a record of 15-6-2 with 32 points in 24 games. The Knight Monsters remain in 7th place in ECHL. They are in 3rd place in the ECHL Western Conference. They are in 2nd place in the ECHL Western Conference Mountain Division. They are in a playoff spot. They are six points into a playoff spot. They are three points away from the top spot in the division. They have the 2nd highest points percentage in the division. This seven game winning is the longest winning streak ever in Tahoe Knight Monsters history. Right now the Knight Monsters have the longest current winning streak in the ECHL. The Knight Monsters are still five games away from getting on the ECHLs longest winning streak, one season list. The Utah Grizzlies have the longest active current losing streak at thirteen games. The Grizzlies are two loses away from getting on the ECHLs longest winless streak, one season list.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters take on the Utah Grizzlies for game three two on Wednesday, December 18th. It will be an away game. That will be the first of three games in Utah. That will be the fourth of six games where the Tahoe Knight Monsters will play the Utah Grizzlies. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:10 PM. This is another divisional game.
Zac Electrifly 
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