Griffins Enjoy Huge Crowd, Shot Margin but Fall 5-2

March 29, 2008 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A three-goal third period and a 47-save performance by Tyler Plante propelled the Rochester Americans to a 5-2 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins on Saturday, before the season's fourth sellout crowd of 10,834 at Van Andel Arena.

Rochester, whose 54 points are the fewest in the Western Conference, maintained its mind-boggling stranglehold on the season series, improving to 5-1-0-1 versus Grand Rapids.

The Griffins (28-37-2-6) will play their fourth game in five days on Sunday, when they travel to Allstate Arena for a rare encounter with the Chicago Wolves at 5 p.m. EDT.

Rochester used a 5-on-3 advantage late in the first period to go ahead 1-0, as Marc-Andre Gragnani's cannon from the point found its way through a screen in front of Jimmy Howard at 13:39.

The Griffins answered 1:07 into the second, when Kyle Quincey pounced on a puck high in the left circle and blasted a shot past Plante. Darren Helm earned the first assist on the goal, extending his scoring streak to a team-high eight games and marking the second-longest point streak for a rookie in franchise history (Jiri Hudler, 12 games in 2003-04).

After Grand Rapids failed to score during 1:14 of a two-man advantage later in the frame, the Amerks (22-40-6-4) went back on top at the 14:16 mark. Carrying the puck out of the Rochester zone, Stefan Meyer whistled a shot on net while crossing the red line, and the puck somehow slipped past Howard to make it a 2-1 lead for the visitors after two periods.

Grand Rapids once again clawed back to tie it 4:32 into the third period, with Francis Lemieux going top-shelf on Plante from the left side, but the Amerks scored twice in the ensuing 10 minutes to pull ahead 4-2. They grabbed their third lead of the night at 6:56 when Tommy Goebel scored from the high slot off a draw in the Griffins zone, and Gragnani tallied his second of the game on a shorthanded break at 13:52, sliding the puck between Howard's pads.

Anthony Stewart added an empty-netter at 19:59 for the final margin, capping off a frustrating night in which Grand Rapids could not capitalize on a 49-26 advantage in shots. Howard, who became just the seventh goalie in team history to log 50 appearances in a single season, finished with 21 saves.

The Griffins continue to enjoy outstanding support despite having been eliminated from playoff contention on Wednesday, as they welcomed slightly less than 20,000 fans to Van Andel Arena the last two nights.

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