Laurila’s Third Period Goal Leads Grizzlies Past Cyclones 3-2

Nov 6, 2021

ROCHESTER, MN- Jake Laurila proved to be the hero Saturday evening, scoring the game-winning goal at 8:07 of the third period as the Rochester Grizzlies salvaged the weekend with a 3-2 win over the visiting Wausau Cyclones. Rochester lost Friday’s game in disappointing fashion on home ice to Wausau, seeing their 13-game win streak end.
Much like Friday, Wausau opened the scoring. Wesley Coquet found his own rebound and fired a wrist shot past Zach Wiese at 11:01 of the first to make it 1-0 for the visitors. That’s the way the score would hold at the end of one, marking the first time all year Rochester has trailed at the end of one period.
Adam Johnson continued his strong weekend and provided a spark for Rochester. Johnson pounced on a loose puck in front of Cyclones goalie Zach Dosan at 11:33 to tie the game at one. Johnson would then come back just over three minutes later to give the Grizzlies the lead in a highlight-reel play, finishing off a cross-ice feed from Kyle Bauer. Johnson went bar down to give the Grizzlies a 2-1 lead at 14:40 of the second. Rochester would find itself in penalty trouble later in the second and CJ Zins would capitalize for the Cyclones. Zins beat Wiese short side at the end of a five-on-three power play to tie the game at two.
That score would hold until Laurila’s point shot found an opening and beat Dosan at 8:07 of the third period. Justin Wright, who finished with two assists in the game, won the face-off clean to Laurila for the eventual game-winning goal.
Wiese stopped 34 of 36 shots while his counterpart Dosan stopped 47 of 50 Rochester shots. The Grizzlies improve to 14-1-0 (28 points) on the season and welcome the St. Louis Jr Blues to Rochester for the first time next weekend. Friday and Saturday’s games are at 7:05 PM with Saturday being Military Appreciation Night.