West Valley City, UT – The Utah Grizzlies defeated the Atlanta Gladiators 4-0 on Saturday night in the final ever meeting between the two teams. Kasimir Kaskisuo stopped all 20 shots that came his way for his 10^th professional shutout.

The Gladiators and the Grizzlies met for the final time ever at Maverik Center on Saturday night, with Atlanta having won the previous four matchups in the season series. Ethan Haider started in net for the Gladiators, while the Grizzlies started Kasimir Kaskisuo, who had signed with the team on Monday.

On Utah’s Teddy Bear Toss Night, the Grizzlies struck first and sent bears flying, as Evan Friesen scored off of a rebound in front of Haider to make it a 1-0 Grizzlies lead with 3:05 left in the first period. Utah outshot Atlanta 13-5 in the first period and took their 1-0 lead into the intermission.

Tempers flared as Louis Boudon and Griffin Ness fought 8:02 into the second period. Atlanta found themselves in some penalty trouble as the game went on, as Utah would go on to score three straight power plays to win 4-0. Neil Shea scored on the power play with 6:30 left in the second period off of a rebound on the far circle. Tyler Gratton and Aiden Hansen-Bukata factored in with the assists. At the end of the period, Maxim Barbashev checked Andrew Jarvis hard and Ryan Nolan came flying in and stood up for his teammate and fighting Barbashev. Nolan drew an instigating penalty on the play, putting Utah on the power play. Time ran out on the period, but after review the officials put 1.1 seconds left on the clock. The faceoff was to the left of Haider, and the Grizzlies quickly won the draw and got it to Lebster who scored with .3 seconds left to make it a 3-0 game. Lebster’s buzzer beater was a power play goal assisted by Luke Manning, who won the faceoff. Utah outshot Atlanta 12-7 in the second period.

The Gladiators weren’t able to generate much offensively in the third period, and Utah tacked on another power play goal 9:02 into the final frame from Luke Manning to make it a 4-0 hockey game, with assists going to Shea and Robbie Stucker. Atlanta was outshot 34-20, as Kaskisuo pitched a 20 save shutout in his first game of the season, and his first with Utah after signing as a free agent on Monday.

Haider stopped 30/34 in the loss, as the Gladiators went 0/3 on the power play and 3/6 on the penalty kill. With the loss, the Gladiators fell to 16-6 on the campaign. Atlanta finishes the season series with a  4-1 record vs Utah, and finishes the all-time series with a record of 7-2-2 vs the Grizzlies. 

The Gladiators are back at home on Friday night to take on the Jacksonville Icemen on Marvel Night at Gas South Arena. The Gladiators will be wearing Fantastic Four-sized specialty jerseys that will be auctioned off after the game. Fans can get tickets HERE or purchase a ticket package with a Kids Superhero Cape HERE!