WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah – Avery Peterson had a goal and two assists, Brett Gravelle and Gabe Chabot each had a goal and an assist and the Rapid City Rush beat the Utah Grizzlies, 4-3, Wednesday night at Maverik Center. In the win, the Rush vaulted past the Grizzlies into first place in the Mountain Division.
The Rush opened the scoring in the first period when Gravelle fed a puck up the right-wing boards for Chabot. Chabot squeaked past the Grizzlies defense, carried the puck to the faceoff circle and snapped a wrister past Trent Miner’s glove to make the score 1-0.
Utah tied things up later in the period after Tyler Penner rimmed a puck around the boards where Joey Colatarci stepped into a shot from the right-wing boards. His slap shot snuck through Brad Arvanitis on the short side and the game was tied at one.
In the first minute of the second period, Christian Simeone won a raced to a dumped-in puck in the left corner and fed it to the front of the net where Nate Clurman was alone. Clurman chipped a shot past Arvanitis and the Grizzlies took a 2-1 lead.
The Rush answered though near the midway point of the second as Peterson gained the zone and was knocked down to his knees. He kept possession of the puck and sent a backhanded pass to Colton Leiter, who swept it through the legs of Miner and the score was 2-2.
In the third, Peterson found Quinn Wichers, who cranked a shot from the blue line that hit bodies in front of the net. It bounced to the back side where Gravelle grabbed the puck and banged it home, putting the Rush on top, 3-2.
Rapid City extended that lead six minutes later, after Peterson climbed over the boards on a line changed and quickly took a pass in the neutral zone. He carried the puck over the blue line and fired a wrist shot low on Miner’s blocker side that pushed the lead to 4-2.
Utah brought itself back within one late in the third when a defensive zone turnover led to a Kyle Betts goal. But the Grizzlies could not crack Arvanitis again and the Rush hung on for the 4-3 win.
Peterson had a goal and two assists in his first game since returning to the Rush via a trade, Chabot and Gravelle each had a goal and an assist and Wichers dished out two assists in the win. Rapid City improved its record to 33-21-5-5 with the win while Utah dropped to 37-24-2-1. The Rush now trail the Grizzlies by just one standings point, with one game in hand, and have the edge on the Grizzlies in points percentage, .594 to .592.
Rapid City and Utah will meet again on Friday night for the second of three games between the two teams this week. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. at Maverik Center.
