Griffins Clinch Second Place In Central Division With Overtime Win Over Milwaukee

April 21, 2024 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release

Grand Rapids Griffins' Carter Mazur battles Milwaukee Admirals' Jack Matier
(Grand Rapids Griffins, Credit: Nicolas Carrillo/Griffins)

The Griffins' overtime win secured a second-place finish in the Central Division for Grand Rapids along with home-ice advantage in its upcoming Calder Cup Playoffs series against the third-place IceHogs. Game 1 of the best-of-five division semifinals will take place at the BMO Center on Saturday, April 27 before the series shifts to Van Andel Arena for Games 2 and 3 on Wednesday, May 1 and Friday, May 3. For the complete series schedule and ticket information, click here .

Sebastian Cossa holds the third-most wins by a rookie goaltender with 22, which is the most since Petr Mrazek's 23 wins in 2012-13. Mazur's tally tied him for 14th place for goals by a rookie with 17.

Following a scoreless first period, a scramble ensued on the doorstep after a backhanded shot reached the net, which allowed Alex Campbell to net a power-play goal for the Admirals at 10:57 in the middle frame.

The Griffins tallied a man-advantage goal of their own in the third period, as Joel L'Esperance rocketed the puck past Troy Grosenick from the left circle to tie the game with 12:16 remaining.

With the game still deadlocked at one, Grand Rapids and Milwaukee entered overtime. Less than a minute into the frame, Cossa denied the Admirals on a 2-on-1 breakaway at 47 seconds. Following the save, Austin Czarnik sent a bullet to the net, which was deflected behind Grosenick by Mazur with 2:50 remaining to seal a 2-1 overtime victory against Milwaukee.

Notes

- Grand Rapids finished its eight-game series against Milwaukee with a 4-3-1-0 record.

- The Griffins finished with a regular season attendance of 275,078 over 36 games at Van Andel Arena, for an average of 7,641 fans, which, is the team's largest since the 2018-19 campaign. Grand Rapids ranked seventh out of 32 AHL teams in attendance this season. Excluding the 2020-21 season when capacity was severely restricted due to COVID, the Griffins have averaged more than 7,000 fans for 15 consecutive seasons.

Box Score

Milwaukee 0 1 0 0 - 1

Grand Rapids 0 0 1 1 - 2

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties

2nd Period-1, Milwaukee, Campbell 3 (Schaefer, Hanzel), 10:57 (PP). Penalties-Hanzel Mil (hooking), 3:04; Berggren Gr (elbowing), 5:18; Didier Gr (tripping), 9:15; Prokop Mil (slashing), 15:15; Aston-Reese Gr (slashing), 15:15.

3rd Period-2, Grand Rapids, L'Esperance 16 (Aston-Reese, Hirose), 7:44 (PP). Penalties-Parssinen Mil (tripping), 6:01; Mutter Mil (roughing), 8:11; Gettinger Gr (roughing), 8:11; Gettinger Gr (high-sticking), 11:29.

OT Period-3, Grand Rapids, Mazur 17 (Czarnik, Johansson), 2:10. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Milwaukee 5-9-6-2-22. Grand Rapids 14-6-15-3-38.

Power Play Opportunities-Milwaukee 1 / 3; Grand Rapids 1 / 2.

Goalies-Milwaukee, Grosenick 17-8-2 (38 shots-36 saves). Grand Rapids, Cossa 22-9-9 (22 shots-21 saves).

A-9,219

Three Stars

1. GR Mazur (overtime-winner); 2. GR L'Esperance (goal); 3. MIL Campbell (goal)

Record / Next Game

Grand Rapids: 37-23-8-4 (86 pts.) / Central Division Semifinals Game 1 / Sat., April 27 at Rockford 8 p.m. EDT

Milwaukee: 47-22-2-1 (97 pts.) / Central Division Semifinals Game 1 / Opponent/Time/Date TBD

Grand Rapids Griffins' Carter Mazur battles Milwaukee Admirals' Jack Matier (Nicolas Carrillo/Griffins)

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