(WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah.) – Logan Nelson scored for the fifth time in his past four games but the Rapid City Rush were beaten by the Utah Grizzlies, 5-1, in Game 1 on Friday night at Maverik Center. The Rush now trail the best-of-seven series, 1-0.
The Grizzlies opened the scoring just 19 seconds into the first period. Following a Rush turnover in the defensive zone, Nick Henry fed Kyle Betts who was alone in front of the net. He flipped a shot under the crossbar and past Lukas Parik, giving Utah a 1-0 lead.
Later in the first, Utah gained the zone and Tarun Fizer hit a charging Nate Clurman on the back post. Clurman backhanded a shot past the outstretched pad of Parik and the lead grew to 2-0.
It added to that lead in the second period when Miles Gendron took a shot from the left circle that went wide but took an odd bounce off the boards and ricocheted back toward Parik in net. The puck bounced over the net and hit Parik’s skate, and Tarun Fizer sprinted to it and poked it in to make the score 3-0.
Rapid City got on the board later in the second. Callum Fryer wristed a shot on net that Trent Miner stopped, but the rebound bounced to Nelson. He carried the puck toward the high slot and sent a wrister through traffic that beat Miner, cutting the deficit to 3-1.
Utah answered though, as Charle-Edouard D’Astous buried a wrist shot from the top of the left circle with less than three minutes to play in the second. The Grizzlies got one more in the third, Dylan Fitze poked in a rebound on a power play, which pushed the score to its 5-1 final.
Nelson scored his team-leading fifth goal of the postseason and Parik made 31 saves on 36 shots. Miner made 33 saves in the Utah net.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is set for Saturday night in Utah. Puck drop at Maverik Center is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.
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