Griffins Fall to Houston, 2-1
March 5, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL) - Grand Rapids Griffins News Release
HOUSTON - Grand Rapids denied all seven of Houston's power play chances and jumped to a 1-0 lead, but the Aeros scored two unanswered goals during the second period that proved to be enough to deliver a 2-1 loss to the Griffins Thursday night at the Toyota Center.
The loss snapped the Griffins' (36-16-6-6) three-game point streak, but the team will look to rebound on Saturday when it concludes its only Texas trip of the season in San Antonio against the Rampage at 8 p.m. EST.
Thanks to stellar play between the pipes from Daniel Larsson and great penalty killing, the Griffins denied four straight Houston power plays during the opening period and still managed to skate into the intermission with a 1-0 lead. Darren Haydar extended his point streak to a team-high eight games by sending a shot past Nolan Schaefer at 6:33 off assists from Ryan Oulahen and Justin Abdelkader.
The first of Houston's (30-23-1-8) two-goal response came at 8:28 of the middle frame, when Morten Madsen worked the puck below the goal line and fed a pass from behind the cage to John Lammers in the slot for a one timer.
Later in the stanza at the 17:44 mark, Jesse Schultz weaved across the blue line and nearly lost the puck in traffic, but was able to gather it in the goal mouth before sliding a backhander past a sprawled out Larsson to put Houston on top.
The Griffins had quality chances during the third and out-shot Houston by an 11-6 margin. However, Schaefer stood strong in the Aeros' net and denied all shots he faced in the closing minutes, including a point blank chance when Ville Leino forced a turnover and a last-second laser from Haydar.
Larsson finished the night with 27 saves in the Griffins' crease, while Schaefer stopped 23.
Three Stars: 1. HOU Lammers (GW goal, 1 assist); 2. HOU Schaefer (29 saves); 3. GR Haydar (1 goal).
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