Recap of Seattle Totems weekend
This past weekend the Utah Outliers took the ice to play against the Seattle Totems. Coming into the series, the Outliers were riding a four-game winning streak, and sitting in second place in the Northwest Division.
Despite losing two of three games in the series, including a steep shutout loss, the Seattle Totems were able to shun all critics with a Friday night 3-2 victory in their first meeting against Utah. Seattle becomes just the third team to defeat the Outliers at the Accord Ice Arena and join the Las Vegas Thunderbirds and Ogden Mustangs in that list.
Totems goaltender Rustam Kulizade made 44 saves to keep the high scoring Outliers to just two goals in the night en route to his fifth win of the campaign. The Outliers led the entire game but with only a couple minutes remaining in the third period, Totems Cameron Walsman blasted a shot from just inside the blue line that caught Oscar Wahlgren by surprise to tie the game up at 2-2 and send it to overtime. Seattle put together their only succeeding goals of the game, making their third goal count in overtime for the win. Seattle forward, Albin Modin tapped in a rebound shot off of Wahlgren's pad for a backdoor goal and the stunned Outliers took the defeat in game one of the series 3-2.
In Saturday’s game, the Outliers came out quick and struck early and often. Coming off a disappointing loss on Friday, the Outliers overwhelmed the Totems in all aspects of the game and steamrolled them 7-0. The Outliers have only lost four times at home and a part of why they are so successful is the stalwart performances put on by Oscar Wahlgren. Wahlgren made 24 saves in Game two to further extend his league-leading shutout count to seven. Dawson Armstrong scored on two occasions leaving five additional Outliers with goals in the first period.
In game three of the series, the Outliers once again started quickly out of the gate and asserted themselves over the Totems. The Outliers quickly jumped out to a 1-0 lead and then extended that margin to 2-0 after Andrei Shmakov broke away down the left-wing and blasted a quick shot through the Totem's netminders' legs at 2:29 of the first period. The Totems showed their competitive spirit and gave the Outliers a bit of a scare late in the second. Seattle could cut the lead in half but then conceded a third goal before they came back to score two unanswered goals to tie the game at 3-3 at 3:38 of the second period on a goal from Daniel Modin. Utah buckled down in the third period and dominated play with a gritty and gutsy effort. Their resilience showed up on the scoreboard as they were able to notch two goals to win the game over the Totems by a score of 5-3.
The Outliers will now take a long road trip to Oklahoma City to play the OKC Blazers. This will be a good test for Outliers as they play an out-of-division series against a strong opponent. Points will be a premium as both teams look to secure their position in their respective divisions. All games can be found on Black Dog TV.