May 25, 2013
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Griffins Fall in Toronto

April 1, 2012 - American Hockey League (AHL) Grand Rapids Griffins

TORONTO, Ontario - Nazem Kadri broke a 2-2 tie with 52 seconds left in the third period to steer the Toronto Marlies to a 4-2 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins on Sunday afternoon at Ricoh Coliseum.

Playing its third game in three days, Grand Rapids (31-28-6-4) missed an opportunity to pull within two points of the final playoff spot. The club will meet the Marlies (41-23-4-3) again in Grand Rapids on Friday at 7 p.m. and in Toronto on Saturday at 3 p.m., after it hosts the Texas Stars on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

It took the Griffins just 15 seconds to jump out to a two-goal lead against the North Division-leading Marlies. At 9:41, Francis Pare opened the scoring and tied former teammate Jamie Tardif for second place in franchise history with 78 career goals. The Marlies had killed off the first penalty of a brief 5-on-3 man advantage, but a tic-tac-toe passing play with Brian Lashoff and Joakim Andersson helped Pare knock home his 14th goal of the season.

Brent Raedeke doubled the lead at 9:56. Some tenacious forechecking by Landon Ferraro forced a turnover behind the Toronto net, and Raedeke beat goaltender Mark Owuya over the shoulder with a quick wrist shot from close range.

Toronto's Philippe Dupuis took over late in the second to bring the Marlies back into it. At the 19:41 mark, Marcel Mueller lofted a pass in the air that was knocked down by a Griffins defenseman and stolen by Dupuis, who beat Tom McCollum to cut the Griffins' lead in half. Just 3:57 into the third period, Dupuis carried the puck through the Griffins' zone along the right wing and knotted the game at two after driving hard to the net and squeezing a shot through McCollum's pads.

As the game inched closer to overtime, Kadri sped towards the goal and fired a shot over McCollum's blocker to give the Marlies their first lead of the game with 52 seconds remaining. After several strong chances by the Griffins, Greg Scott iced the game with an empty net goal to give Toronto the 4-2 win.

McCollum stopped 29 shots in his seventh straight start. Owuya stopped 15 of 17 in the Marlies' win.

Three Stars: 1. TOR Dupuis (two goals); 2. TOR Kadri (game-winning goal); 3. GR McCollum (29 saves)

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American Hockey League Stories from April 1, 2012


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