STOCKTON, Calif. -- The Utah Grizzlies are definitely getting the hang of playing tough postseason hockey on the road.
Less than 24 hours after puling away from the Stockton Thunder for a 4-2 victory late Saturday night, the Grizzlies closed out the host Thunder 5-0 Sunday evening to win their fist-round ECHL best-of-five playoff series 3-1.
Utah, seeded No. 6 in the ECHL playoffs, will now start a best-of-five series with Victoria this weekend.
Utah scored the final eight goals in the series, including three goals in the first 8 minutes of Sunday's finale to put the game out of reach early. Utah goaltender J.P. Lamoreux stopped all 20 Stockon shots he faced on Sunday at Stockton Arena.
Five separate Utah players found the net: Matt Reber, Samson Mahbod, Kevin Deeth, Hugo Carpentier and Paul McIlveen.
Special teams play was big in Saturday's win.
Utah boke a 2-2 second intermission tie by outshooting Stockton 11-6. On a power-play, Simon Ferguson fed Reber from the side of the net early in the third period. With 13 seconds left, Marcus Carroll won a draw in the Utah end, then raced down the ice as Ferguson finished off his four-point night by feeding Carroll for his first pro goal into an empty net.
Ferguson and Carpentier also scored for Utah. Lamoreux stopped 27-of-29 shots, including 21 of 23 to start the game.
Ferguson leads the ECHL in playoff scoring with three goals and five assists.
Victoria topped the No. 2-seeded Bakersfield Condors 3-1 in their playoff series.
Games 1 and 2 with the Salmon Kings will be Friday and Saturday at the Maverik Center.
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