Forward George Poirier extended his point streak to four games and goaltender Jack Erickson made 32 saves but it wasn’t enough to overcome a late surge from the Rhinos as the Grit fell 2-1 on the road in El Paso on Friday night.Β
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An even opening period didn’t provide much room for scoring with El Paso goaltender Joey LoVullo and Grit netminder Jack Erickson matching zeros for nearly twenty minutes. A combined 16 shots in the frame meant no scoring until Colorado nabbed a late power play opportunity after a dustup that saw Cade Kozak and Rhino winger AJ Reed get offsetting holding minors and Ty Gordon get an additional two minutes in the box. Colorado needed less than a minute to convert when center George Poirier finishied off a feed from Ben Rakowski and rifled the puck past LoVullo to give the Grit a 1-0 lead with one minute remaining in the first period.Β
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The second frame opened with a successful Grit penalty kill fending off two Rhino shots on net, as they finished with 34 shots on goal. Colorado weathered a storm in the middle portion of the frame. Eleven consecutive saves from Erickson across eight minutes kept the Grit on top, 1-0, with the Grit tacking on their second successful penalty kill of the night with 3:14 left in the second period. For the second time in as many efforts, the Grit turned aside the El Paso offense and went to the man advantage just before the second intermission. Two efforts from the blue line were turned aside as Colorado went to the break looking for their offense to find the back of the net once more, but nursing a 1-0 advantage.
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After a phenomenal effort from Erickson, the Rhino offense finally broke through for the first time on the second year goaltender. El Paso forward Beckett Hinchsliff nestled the puck behind Erickson to tie the contest, 1-1, with 16:31 to play in regulation and snapping a stretch of 23 consecutive saves for Erickson. For the first time on the evening, the home side grabbed the lead moments later. Trent Anfinson snuck the puck past Erickson for his first tally of the season and pushed El Paso in front, 2-1, just 5:29 into the third period. Colorado pushed three more shots on goal at LoVullo in the final ninety seconds with the extra attacker, but the final effort from defenseman Braden Junker was kicked aside with 31 seconds to play.
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GRIT NOTESΒ
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– Poirier’s four-game point streak ties a franchise record that has been accomplished three times already on the young campaign (Johnson & Ori). The second-year Grit forward now owns the franchise’s longest point streak (4 games – active) and the franchise’s longest goal streak (3 games). The tally also marks his 12th as a member of the Grit and moves him into a three-way tie with Landon West and Noah Grolnic as the all-time leading goal scorer.
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– The power play continues to click under Kevin Holmstrom as Poirier’s first period tally came on the man advantage. Since taking over, the Grit are a staggering 10/35 (28.6%). At that rate, the clip would be good for 1st in the entire league and over two percent better than any other team.
