Outliers beat Blazers

This past weekend the Utah Outliers took the ice to host the Bellingham Blazers in a three-game series at the Acord Ice Center. The Outliers had been riding an offensive high heading into the series and were looking to pick up another three wins. 

In Friday's game, the home team struck early as Nikita Andrusenko converted on a nice offensive zone entry pass from Trent Gephart to give the Outliers an early 1-0 lead just nineteen seconds into the contest. 

The Outliers would pour on another eight goals over the course of the night to walk away with a 9-1 win. Outliers' goals were scored by seven different players showcasing the team's offensive depth. 

Oscar Wahlgren had a strong performance stopping 20 shots. 

In Saturday's game, the Outliers came out slow and saw themselves fall behind when Bellingham opened the scoring to put the Blazers ahead 1-0 at 5:47 of the first period. The period surprisingly ended that way with Utah trailing 1-0.

In the second, the Outliers found some life and got themselves on the board four different times to gain the 4-1 advantage heading into the third. 

Just as the Blazers seemed down and out, they struck again twice in the third period to narrow the Outliers lead to within one goal. Trent Gephart sealed the victory for the home team making it 5-3 in favor of Utah.

Micah Hershey played goal for the Outliers and made 16 saves. 

On Sunday, the Outliers controlled the game early and generated some good chances on 19 shots in the frame but failed to find the back of the net due to some outstanding goaltending by the Blazers goalie. The game remained scoreless after one period. 

In the second, the Outliers looked to struggle to find an offensive rhythm and could not control the game as they did in the first period. Much of that was due to the blazers' aggressive checking and keeping Utah to the perimeter. Both teams would find the scoresheet twice as the game headed into the third tied 2-2.

In the third, the Outliers came out flying and put up 22 shots on net. The offensive persistence of the Outliers would finally pay off at 5:04 of the final period when defenseman Helvis Rudzajs scored a blistering shot from the point. 

The Blazers pulled their goalie in the final minute of the game and had a couple of close chances but goaltender Hunter Raye shut the door. The Outliers netminder finished the game with 13 saves.