Outliers sweep Blazers

The Utah Outliers continued their winning ways by sweeping their divisional opponent, Bellingham Blazers.  Utah came into the series looking to build on their 3-1 victory over the Ogden Mustangs earlier in the week. Over the weekend, Utah showed their dominance all over the ice against the Blazers. The team scored in numerous ways, and also played great defense posting back-to-back shutouts. The Outliers outscored the Blazers 18-3 over the three game series. 

In game one of the series, Utah set the tone early, peppering the Blazers' goaltender. The Outliers asserted their offensive power by scoring five straight goals in the game. The Blazers battled back to close the gap scoring three goals of their own but the Outliers added another goal and skate away with a 6-3 victory. 

Recently acquired Randy Yeakley, found his first two goals in the Outlier uniform, and Jett Arminen had a pair of his own along with one helper to lead the team. Oscar Wahlgren picked up another win in net for the Outliers. 

In game two, Utah jumped out ahead again early by scoring three consecutive goals in the first period for a 3-0 lead. The team continued to pour on the pressure in the second period adding two more goals to extend their lead to 5-0. In the third period, the Outliers failed to score as the Blazers goaltender held down the fort making some big saves. The Outliers came away with the 5-0 victory and outshot the Blazers 35-12 in the game.

The Outliers were led offensively by Josef Bajer who had two goals; Jakub Lelek, Jett Arminen and Andrei Shmakov each scored one goal to reach five unanswered. Micah Hershey was solid in goal and recorded his first shutout win of the season.

The final game of the series had the Outliers showing their offensive dominance once again. A well-balanced attack throughout the game, Utah rattled off 7 straight goals to seal the 7-0 win and for the second time in as many nights, the Blazers were shutout at home as the Outliers closed the door defensively. 

Oscar Wahlgren continues to add to his league-leading shutout total, and secures his sixth shutout of the season, 12th win. Wahlgren stopped 23 shots with a gradual increase in shot volume as the game wore on.

Jakub Lelek scored two goals and one assist, Nikita Andrusenko had one goal and two helpers leaving both skaters with three points. Five different Outliers had multiple point outings to oust Bellingham.