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Bloomington limited Utah to 24 shots on goal but the Grizzlies were able to keep consistent traffic in front of Bison starting goaltender Yaniv Perets, blocking his view of the play. All three of Utah’s goals on Perets came from above the circles.

The loss snapped Bloomington’s four-game winning streak and was only the second regulation loss in their last 10 matchups.

After the game head coach Phillip Barski acknowledged Utah’s ability to crowd the front of the Bison net.

“We talked about how many good coaches there are in this league. And they obviously made the adjustments of getting guys to the net front, taking his (Perets’) eyes, and we didn’t block shots and then we didn’t do a great job on our box-outs. And that’s the difference in the game,” Barski said.

He said the Grizzlies had successfully screened Perets from the puck, effectively blocking his vision. 

“I don’t think Yani had a chance on that,” he said. “So that’s something that we’re going to have to learn from and understand how important those battles are at our net front and making sure that our goalies can see those pucks.”

Here are some takeaways from the game.

• 1-0, Utah: Derek Daschke, assisted by Cole Fonstad and Reed Lebster. First period, 8:18, power play goal. A wrist shot from the point beat Perets high to the glove side to open the scoring for the game.
• 2-0, Utah: Hunter Warner, assisted by Daschke and Fonstad. First period, 13:17. A turnover by Bloomington in their own zone led to another shot from the point that trickled past Perets.
• 3-0, Utah: Adam Berg, assisted by Daschke and Bryan Yoon. Second period, 8:13. Berg danced around the top of the offensive zone and beat Perets with another high wrister.
• 3-1, Bison: Josh Boyer, assisted by Brett Budgell and Case McCarthy. Third period, 15:06. Boyer collected his ninth goal of the year and broke up Utah’s shutout bid with a wrist shot from the top of the circles.
• 4-1, Utah: Briley Wood, unassisted. Third period, 17:18. The empty net goal by Wood sealed the victory for Utah.

After giving up three on 34 shots on Friday, Utah’s Barczewski was strong in net. He turned away all but one of 34 Bloomington’s shots on Sunday.

With the loss, Perets’ record in net now stands at 5-3-1 in nine games played with the Bison. He allowed three goals on 24 shots on goal.

Bloomington was whistled for a ‘too many men on the ice’ penalty at 8:13 of the first period. This was the third such penalty in three games against Utah over the weekend. The Grizzlies scored on two of the three ensuing power plays, including the game-winning goal on Sunday.

Barski, speaking after Sunday’s game, took responsibility for the repeat penalty.

“It’s completely unacceptable,” he said.”It’s something that we’re definitely going to have to address. We’ve talked about it internally, but that’s totally on me.

“They scored one on that power play and they got momentum. And that’s something for us as a group, we’re gonna have to learn from it.”

Utah’s Hunter Warner, who joined the Grizzlies just two days ago, scored his first career ECHL goal to make it 2-0 in the first period. The 29-year-old defenseman spent six seasons with the AHL’s Iowa Wild and has played the last two years overseas in the Euro leagues.

With the series win against Utah behind them, the team returns to home ice at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 24, to host the Indy Fuel.

After that comes a long stretch of away games — nine in total — that will take the Bison to Cincinnati, Kalamazoo, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Savannah and Kalamazoo again before they return to Bloomington in mid-February.

The Bison will host the Cincinnati Cyclones at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15, and Toledo Walleye at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 16, at Grossinger Motors Arena.