ROCHESTER, Minn. – A complete 60 minutes led the Rochester Grizzlies to a 4-0 shutout victory over the Peoria Mustangs, winning their third contest in a row and securing the weekend sweep.
The Mustangs had a much better first period than Friday’s contest, at least on the scoresheet.
However, with just one shot through the first 20 minutes of play, it felt like it was only a matter of time before the Grizzlies found twine.
As a major penalty to Breyon Maroney expired, Brett Ludvigsen (4) buried one with 62 seconds remaining to give Marty Raymond’s squad the lead heading into the intermission.
Rochester took that momentum from the late goal in the first and turned it into an early goal in the middle frame, as Andrew Bastian (2) scored off his own rebound from a pass by Ole Fevold (6) to double the lead.
The white and gold continued piling on the pressure, forcing a turnover with just under seven minutes remaining in the period, and turning into a highlight-reel goal from Mason Decker (7) made it a three-goal lead off of Fevold’s third assist of the night.
The Grizzlies held Peoria to a measly four shots in the final frame, and added a goal from Fevold (2) to seal the deal with a 4-0 victory.
The shutout marks the first in Kyle Lappi’s NA3HL career, who continues his hot start to the season, surrendering just two goals across three games.
Despite his best effort, Charles Maquet gets credited with the loss after stopping 32 of 36 shots and keeping the Mustangs close for as long as he could.
The Grizzlies have the next two weeks off before hitting the road to take on Peoria again, while the Mustangs travel to Cloquet to take on the Minnesota Wilderness next week.