ROCHESTER, MN – It might not have been pretty at times, but the Rochester Grizzlies found a way. After trailing at the end of one period and being tied at the end of the second, the Grizzlies rattled off three goals in the third and beat the Milwaukee Power 6-3. Rochester ended its six-game homestand winning the last five and finished it with a 5-1 record.
The visitors would get on the board first, as Riley Planey beat Niko Goich at 9:34 of the first period to make it 1-0. Despite piling up the shots, Rochester would not be able to solve Power goalie Austin Bartell in the first period. Ben Cremers would add insult to injury as he would make it 2-0 Power with 1:27 left in the first period.
Rochester would find its game in the second as Kade Shea just 2:02 in would finish off a great feed from Kyle Bauer behind the net to cut the lead to 2-1. at 12:38, after a few penalties were assessed to each team, Luke Morrisette would redirect in a point shot from Noah Roitman to make it 2-2 with a power-play goal. Morrisette would come back just about three minutes later and this time deflected in a Lyncoln Howarth shot to give the Grizzlies a 3-2. That lead wouldn’t make it to the second intermission as Patrick Toomey would score a highlight-reel goal to tie the game with .5 seconds left in the period.
Captain Cole Gibson would play the hero tonight, scoring a goal in his fifth straight game to break the tie at 10:19 of the third. Gibson finished off a great pass from Ben Oakland, who continued his strong first weekend with the Grizzlies and beat Bartell clean with the shot. Layten Liffrig would make it 5-3 just 11 seconds later after Roitman hit him with a perfect home run pass to spring him on a breakaway. Max Breon would round out the scoring at 17:24 of the third.
Goich stopped 25 shots to earn his third victory of the season. The Grizzlies would rack up 54 shots on net to just 28 for the Power. Rochester is now at 60 points on the season with a 29-6-2 record.
The Grizzlies are on the road next weekend for two games at St.Louis before coming back to town two weeks from now for Friday and Saturday games against Wausau.