AHL Grand Rapids Griffins

Griffins' OT magic continues with 2-1 win over Hamilton

Published on February 20, 2004 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


Grand Rapids, Mich. - Kory Karlander stuffed a rebound past Eric Fichaud 2:40 into overtime on Friday to give the Grand Rapids Griffins a come-from-behind, 2-1 victory over the Hamilton Bulldogs in a clash of Western Conference titans at Van Andel Arena.

Kevin Miller, who has already accounted for three overtime goals this season, carried the puck across the line and made an incredible move to unleash a shot on Fichaud. The former NHL netminder got his left pad on the attempt, but Karlander was streaking down the slot to jam the loose puck just inside the right post.

With the victory, the Griffins (34-15-8-0) extended their record unbeaten streak at home to 13 games (10-0-3-0) and improved to 6-0-8 this season in overtime sessions. After dispatching the Bulldogs, who stand second in the conference with a 30-16-7-3 mark, Grand Rapids will host its closest West Division rival on Saturday night, when Milwaukee pays a visit at 7:30. The Griffins currently lead the Admirals by nine points in the division race.

Two scoreless periods enabled Joey MacDonald to stretch his record home shutout streak to over four games' worth of time before Hamilton finally solved him 7:37 into the third period. Off an odd-man break out of the Bulldogs' zone, Alexander Perezhogin took a pass from Jimmie Olvestad and lifted a shot just below the crossbar from the right side, ending MacDonald's shutout streak at Van Andel Arena at 242:18.

However, the Griffins pulled even less than five minutes later on Danny Groulx's sixth of the season. Jeff Nelson won a draw to the right of Fichaud, and Groulx ripped a 50-foot shot to force the extra session.

The Griffins improved their incredible overtime mark in the AHL to 14-2-27 all-time with their fourth home overtime victory during their current unbeaten streak. Strangely, all four of those game-winning goals were netted within a span of just 17 seconds of overtime, coming at 2:40 tonight by Karlander, 2:40 by Miller on Jan. 17 versus St. John's, 2:44 by Hugo Boisvert on Jan. 16 against Chicago, and 2:27 by Jiri Hudler on Jan. 10 versus Cleveland.

Grand Rapids has now prevailed in each of its last nine regular season games in which a winner was decided in overtime, since suffering back-to-back overtime losses on the road in November 2002. Of the Griffins' six overtime goals this season, Miller has either scored or assisted on five of them.

MacDonald, now 15-3-3 on the season, earned the win with 18 saves, while Fichaud turned aside 35 shots in the loss. View this game's official box score on-line at griffinshockey.com.

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American Hockey League Stories from February 20, 2004


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