STATELINE, Nev. – The Tahoe Knight Monsters defeated the Utah Grizzlies 6-3 on Friday night to kick off Military Appreciation Weekend.
In the first period, Tahoe built an early lead. Jake Durflinger scored his third goal of the year, and Blake Wells tallied his first career ECHL goal to give Tahoe a 2-0 lead after the opening 20.
In the second, Utah mounted a comeback. With goals from Danny Dzhaniyev and John Gelatt, the Grizzlies tied the game at 2. However, in the final five minutes of the period, Tahoe would tally two goals of their own as Jordan Gustafson and Casey Bailey found the back of the net to put Tahoe up 4-2 headed into the final frame.
In the final 20, Reed Lebster got Utah on the board quickly, scoring in the opening minute of the period to cut the Knight Monsters’ lead to 1. In the end, Devon Paliani took control. After he scored his team-leading 16th goal of the season to make it 5-3, he added on another goal with an empty net to give the Knight Monsters a 6-3 win.
With the win, Tahoe improved to 7-1 in specialty theme night jerseys. Jordan Papirny played stellar in net, stopping 31 of 34 Utah shots, and earning third star of the game honors.
The Knight Monsters are the proud ECHL Affiliate of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights and the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights,
The Knight Monsters return home on Saturday, January 10, 2026, to take on the Utah Grizzlies for the final night of Military Appreciation Weekend at Tahoe Blue Event Center. Puck drop is at 7:00 pm, with pregame coverage on the Knight Monsters broadcast network beginning at 6:50 pm. Ticket packages for the 2025-26 season are now available. For more information, visit www.knightmonstershockey.com