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AHL Grand Rapids Griffins

Griffins renew winning ways with 5-2 victory

January 31, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


West Valley City, Utah - The Grand Rapids Griffins (28-13-8-0) rebounded from Friday's loss with a 5-2 win over the Utah Grizzlies (15-26-4-3) on Saturday night at The "E" Center.

Joey MacDonald, who improved his road record to 8-1-2 with a 2.17 goals against average and a 0.933 save percentage this season, made 27 saves for the win. Overall, he has a 19-3-2 mark, a 2.09 goals against average and a 0.928 save percentage.

The Griffins shared the offense with five different players lighting the lamp.

After yielding the first goal to Utah by Jarrod Skalde from Mathias Tjarnqvist at 4:53 of the opening frame, the Griffins cracked Mike Smith. Smith shut the Griffins out on Friday night with a 24-save performance. Michel Picard cracked Smith with a power play tally 15:55 into the first period from Canadian AHL All-Star Nathan Robinson. Picard became the first Griffin to amass 150 goals.

Grand Rapids poured it on in the second period scoring four goals. AHL All-Star and PlanetUSA captain, Travis Richards hit Kevin Miller with a breakaway pass. Miller made a move on Smith, and tucked the puck into the net 1:31 into the middle frame for a shorthanded tally.

Just 1:18 later, Robinson used a burst of his blazing speed to evade defenseman Regan Darby before beating Smith to make the score 3-1. Ryan Bonni picked up the lone assist on the goal.

Hugo Boisvert was the benefactor of a strange bounce off the corner boards as he gathered the puck and buried it into an open net at 8:06 of the of the second period.

Utah answered with a power play goal by Trevor Daley from Skalde 1:24 later, cutting the Griffins lead to 4-2.

Grand Rapids regained the three-goal cushion when Jeff Nelson corralled Anders Myrvold's point shot and slid it beneath Smith at 14:22 of the second period. Miller also assisted on the power play goal.

Smith made 12 saves in 40 minutes of work before Dan Ellis relieved him to start the third period. Ellis stopped all five shots in the third period.

The Griffins return to action on Wednesday night when they host the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks at 7.

View this game's official box score on-line at griffinshockey.com.

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