Hunter Garlent scored the final goal for Rapid City as the Rush lost to Utah in the third of three close games in their series this weekend.
After two overtime games Friday and Saturday, the Rapid City Rush dropped a 4-3 decision Sunday to lose the series.
Tyler Coulter tied the game at 1-1 near the end of a clean first period. Peter Quenneville had the assist.
The second period was anything but clean for Rapid City. The Rush were tagged with four penalties in the second frame, leading to two penalty play goals for Utah. In between those goals, Avery Peterson scored with an assist by Coulter and Butrus Ghafari to keep it close at 3-2 at the end of the second period.
The flood of penalty play goals continued in the third period, when the Rush were tagged with three more penalties including a bench misconduct and boarding by Ghafari at 10:44 in the final period. During that penalty play, Utah pushed the lead to 4-2.
With just under six minutes left to play, Hunter Garlent scored on assists by Andrew Sturtz and Stephen Baylis to cut the lead to one at 4-3. But the Rush couldn't force a third straight overtime as the game ended with the Grizzlies on top.
Gordon Defiel had 30 saves Sunday as three of the four goals he allowed were on Grizzly penalty plays.
The Rush have a four-game stretch at Western Conference leading Wichita Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday before returning home March 5 for a series with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits.
