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Grand Rapids Griffins

Griffins Extend Win Streak to Five

December 28, 2016 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


CLEVELAND - Ben Street's power play marker with 4:12 remaining proved to be the game-winner as the Western Conference-leading Grand Rapids Griffins won their season-high fifth consecutive game, defeating the Cleveland Monsters 3-2 on Wednesday before a crowd of 11,325 at Quicken Loans Arena.

Mitch Callahan also registered a three-point (1-2-3) night as Grand Rapids earned points for the 13th time in its last 14 outings (10-1-1-2). Eddie Pasquale turned aside 19 shots to extend his individual point streak to nine straight (6-0-3).

Both teams traded power play tallies in the opening period with Tomas Nosek drawing first blood for the Griffins (19-7-1-2) 2:40 into the contest. After Matt Lorito's initial effort from the right point whistled wide to the glove side, Nosek raced towards the net to play the carom off the end boards and tucked a shot past the catching glove of Joonas Korpisalo.

Cleveland (15-12-1-2) responded when T.J. Tynan sent a pass down low to Markus Hannikainen at the right side of the net, who in turn guided a backhanded centering feed across the goal mouth to Sonny Milano for a tap-in at the 6:30 mark.

The hosts captured the lead on the man advantage just past the halfway point of the middle period when Alex Broadhurst played catch with Dean Kukan before firing a wrist shot from the right circle into the top left corner past a screened Pasquale.

Callahan evened the score for Grand Rapids with 3:35 to play in the second. Dan Renouf's shot from the left circle forced a right pad save from Korpisalo, but the puck reached Callahan in front for two more chances, striking the Cleveland netminder's left pad before hitting an open net for his ninth goal of the campaign.

The Griffins were gifted a late opportunity on the man advantage after Marc-Andre Bergeron was called for holding with 4:41 left in regulation. Using a lethal five-forward unit, the AHL's most efficient power play needed just 29 seconds to snatch the two points. Lorito spun away from pressure in the right corner and sent the puck to Street at the right point for a slapshot that deflected off the stick of Dillon Heatherington and helplessly over Korpisalo's glove-side shoulder to snap the Monsters' eight-game point streak (7-0-0-1).

Grand Rapids finished 2-for-3 on the power play while Cleveland converted on 2-of-4 chances. Korpisalo blocked 34 shots in a losing effort. The Griffins and Monsters have a rematch on Friday at Quicken Loans Arena with puck drop set for 7 p.m.

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