Griffins Score Late To Beat The Heat, 5-3
Published on October 23, 2009 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Kris Newbury's power play goal with 1:19 remaining on Friday gave the Grand Rapids Griffins their first lead of the night and propelled them to a 5-3 victory over the Abbotsford Heat at Van Andel Arena, much to the delight of their 14th consecutive home-opening sellout crowd.
NHL veteran Michael Nylander had three assists in his Griffins debut and Daniel Larsson made 25 saves to help Grand Rapids rally from a 2-0 deficit and improve to 2-4-0-0 on the young season.
The Griffins will continue their three-in-three at home by hosting the Toronto Marlies at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Abbotsford (4-2-2-1) used a pair of first-period goals to take the upper hand, as J.D. Watt beat Larsson at 7:29 and Mikael Backlund followed up at 10:42.
The Griffins scored their first home goal of the season with 4:52 left in the frame, as Evan McGrath took a pass from Doug Janik and whipped a shot from the high slot past Leland Irving's glove and into the top corner of the net.
Nylander, assigned for conditioning by Washington on Wednesday, set up the equalizer during a power play just 1:30 later. From the right circle, the savvy veteran sent a pass backdoor to Jeremy Williams, who put the puck past Irving on his second whack from the doorstep.
The teams exchanged power play tallies in the second period to take a 3-3 game into the final 20 minutes. After long-time Griffins nemesis Jason Jaffray scored on a sharp-angle shot from the left side at 7:31, Mattias Ritola answered for Grand Rapids, taking a pass down low from Newbury, crashing the net and slipping a backhand home at the 19-minute mark.
Late in the third period, a five-minute boarding major on Abbotsford's Kris Chucko gave the home squad a power play to close-out the final 4:40 of regulation, and they sent 10,834 fans home happy thanks to Newbury's game-winner from the right side and Jan Mursak's empty-netter with just five seconds left.
The Griffins converted four of their 10 power play chances on the night, marking their most productive performance with the advantage since March 14, 2006, when they went four-for-12 in a 5-3 win at Milwaukee.
Irving finished with 34 saves for the Heat.
Three Stars: 1. GR Newbury (game-winning goal, assist); 2. GR Nylander (three assists); 3. GR Ritola (power play goal, assist)
View this game's official box score at griffinshockey.com.
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