ROCHESTER, MN – The Rochester Grizzlies regained their dominating ways this weekend. After putting up a big 9-1 win Friday night, the Grizzlies stormed back for a 5-1 Saturday evening over the visiting St. Louis Jr. Blues. Rochester now sits at 16-1-0, good for 32 points and first place in the Central Division.
Saturday’s game didn’t have the same start as Friday’s contest. It took the Grizzlies 1:04 into the game to score this time instead of 54 seconds like Friday. Kyle Bauer finished off a nice centering feed from Cole Gibson to beat Brendan Cobb to the blocker side for his twelfth goal of the season, good for the team lead. That would be the only goal Rochester would score in the first, giving this game a different look than Friday, when the Grizzlies rattled off seven goals in the first period.
Connor Mahony gave Rochester a 2-0 lead 6:03 in the second after collecting a loose puck in the slot and firing it into the yawning cage. Cobb poked the initial attempt off Layten Liffrig’s stick and right to Mahony. Just 49 seconds later, Liffrig would be sprung on a breakaway and made a beautiful finish to give Rochester a 3-0 lead early in the second. Brayden Wilson brought St. Louis within striking distance with his own partial breakaway goal, making it 3-1 at 9:28 of the second period.
That’s as close as the Jr. Blues would get, however. Mahony finished off a pretty passing play between Liffrig and Austin Meers to give the Grizzlies the three-goal lead back at 11:44 of the second. Max Clark would add a late power-play goal in the third period to finish it off for Rochester. Clark’s goal marked his first of the season. Zach Wiese stopped 13 of 14 shots on net tonight after a stellar defensive effort by Rochester. Friday night saw the Grizzlies give up 30 shots but Saturday the team shut it down defensively.
Rochester is back home next weekend for two games against the Milwaukee Power. Those games are Friday and Saturday at 7:05 PM. It’s the first time the Power will be making the trip to Rochester this season.