AHL Grand Rapids Griffins

Griffins Close Out 2010 With Wild Shootout Win

Published on December 31, 2010 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Grand Rapids Griffins and Toronto Marlies closed out 2010 by engaging in an old fashioned goaltenders' duel sprinkled with a dose of controversy, as the Griffins eventually prevailed by a 2-1 shootout count in the 14th annual New Year's Eve celebration at Van Andel Arena.

Joey MacDonald made a season-high 43 saves to best Toronto rookie Ben Scrivens' 40 stops, enabling the Griffins to complete their dramatic comeback from a late 1-0 deficit and give the capacity crowd of 10,834 the chance to celebrate victory twice in a remarkable series of events.

After Francis Pare scored with just 1:37 left in regulation to put Grand Rapids on the board, the Griffins thought they had won the game on another Pare goal from close range with just a half second left in overtime, with the entire bench and even MacDonald joining in a pile-up celebration behind the Toronto goal. But the roar of the sold-out crowd was belatedly snuffed out by a linesman's ruling that the puck came to Pare on a hand pass from Jamie Tardif.

Undaunted, MacDonald went on to stone three of four Marlies in the shootout, while Pare, Ilari Filppula and Cory Emmerton scored to give Grand Rapids the unforgettable victory. Emmerton's game-clincher in the fourth round came in his return to the lineup after missing 12 straight games due to injury.

The Griffins (16-15-1-4), winners of five of their last six at home, will try to carry that momentum into 2011 on Saturday, when they host their inaugural New Year's Day game against the Peoria Rivermen at 7 p.m.

The wide-open and entertaining contest featured no scoring and a combined 63 saves through the first 53 minutes. Among them, MacDonald made a brilliant right-pad stop on a Jeff Cowen redirection less than five minutes into the third to maintain the scoreless deadlock. But a neutral-zone giveaway later in the frame led to a 2-on-0 break for the Marlies, and Christian Hanson solved MacDonald on Toronto's 34th shot to give the visitors the lead with just 6:56 remaining.

Pare had a golden opportunity to tie matters with 4:30 left, taking the puck along the end boards and quickly coming out in an attempt to stuff it inside the right post, but Scrivens somehow recovered from being out of position to dive across and keep the puck out of his net.

Pare would indeed tie the score on the Griffins' 36th shot at the 18:23 mark. As Grand Rapids buzzed furiously around the Toronto net, Pare got several whacks at the puck from the left side, finally putting it through the scrum to deny Scrivens his first pro shutout and set up the wild finish.

Check out the Grand Rapids Griffins Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Hockey League Stories from December 31, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central