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Grand Rapids Griffins

Marlies End Winless Drought in 4-2 Win over Griffins

December 2, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


TORONTO - Looking to close out their four-game road trip with a third win, the Grand Rapids fell short at Ricoh Coliseum where the Toronto Marlies posted a 4-2 victory Tuesday night.

The Griffins ended their trip away from home with a 2-1-1-0 record. With the win, the Marlies snapped a nine-game winless drought where they posted a 0-7-2 record.

Toronto (6-12-2-0) scored at least three goals for the fifth time in its 20 games this. The home team opened the scoring in the first period when Patrick Watling netted his second goal of the season with a floating wrist shot past Tom McCollum at 12:01 with the assist coming from Josh Leivo.

The Griffins evened the score at 1-1 at 15:51 when Xavier Ouellet gave a pass to Louis-Marc Aubry who then snapped a forehand wrist shot over Marlies goaltender Christopher Gibson.

Grand Rapids (9-8-2-0) took a 2-1 lead at 6:47 of the second period on the power play when Mitch Callahan retrieved the puck in the corner and found Andy Miele who eluded the Toronto defense to score his eighth goal of the season past Gibson.

Toronto countered with a power play tally of its own later in the period when Matt Frattin put a low wrist shot in the net through traffic in front of McCollum to tie the game at 15:30.

Despite the Griffins firing 19 of their 40 shots on Gibson in the final period, it was the Marlies lighting the lamp twice for the win. Connor Brown scored the eventual game-winner at 2:38 when he benefited from Troy Bodie causing a turnover inside the Grand Rapids blue line as the Griffins were advancing the puck. Brown was then able to score his fourth goal of the year uncontested with a wrist shot past McCollum's glove.

The goal that put the game out of reach for Grand Rapids came at 14:32 when Brendan Mikkelson was credited with his second tally of the season that was deflected in front of McCollum just as he was about to save it with his blocker but instead went over his shoulder and into the net.

In the winning effort, Gibson made 38 saves while earning first star honors. McCollum made 26 saves on 30 Toronto shots. Both clubs went 1-for-4 on the power play.

The Griffins are back at Van Andel Arena Friday night when the Oklahoma City Barons visit at 7 p.m.

Three stars: 1. TOR Gibson (W, 38 saves); 2. TOR Frattin (power play goal); 3. TOR MacWilliam (assist)

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