AHL Grand Rapids Griffins

Griffins Show Character while Tying up Moose, 3-3

Published on January 14, 2004 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


Grand Rapids, Mich. - Playing for the fifth time in six days and facing-off just four hours after returning to Grand Rapids from last night's 2-1 win in San Antonio, the Griffins came from behind to gut-out a 3-3 tie with the Manitoba Moose on Wednesday at Van Andel Arena.

The weary Griffins scored twice within a 37-second span late in the first period to tie the game at three, then shut the Moose (16-20-7-1) down the rest of the way to earn a point.

Grand Rapids (23-12-6-0) remained unbeaten thus far during its record-tying torture test of seven games in nine days, showing three wins and two ties. The Griffins will finish the marathon stretch at home this Friday versus Chicago and Saturday against St. John's.

Awarded a 5-on-3 in the game's opening minutes, the Griffins did not squander their opportunity. Just seconds after the first penalty to Manitoba expired, Michel Picard sent a pass from the right circle to Kevin Miller, who fired a shot from the high slot past former Griffins netminder Tyler Moss at 3:54. With the goal, Miller, appearing in his 1,000th pro game, extended his goal streak to a team-high four games and tied Nathan Robinson for the team lead with his 14th of the season.

It didn't take long for Manitoba to turn its one-goal deficit into a 2-1 lead. A power play goal by Fedor Fedorov, younger brother of Sergei, tied the score at 4:12, and Ryan Ready tapped in a cross-crease pass from Pat Kavanagh at 6:19.

Tomas Mojzis gave the Moose their second power play goal of the night and a two-goal cushion at the 11:34 mark. With five seconds left in a high-sticking double minor to Robinson, Mojzis snuck a shot through a screen from the left circle that eluded Marc Lamothe. Manitoba's all-star defenseman, Jaroslav Obsut, recorded his third assist of the night on the play.

Despite their fatigue, the Griffins rallied to make it a 3-3 game in the waning minutes before the break. Darryl Bootland banged home a rebound from the left of the net during a power play at 18:17, and Picard finished a two-on-one at 18:54 off a beautiful pass by Robinson. The six combined goals were the most in a single period of a Griffins game since Dec. 30, 2002, in the second period of a 6-2 win over Utah.

Lamothe made 24 saves, including 16 over the final two periods and overtime, while Moss finished with 29 stops.

The game marked the Griffins' third straight home contest that was tied at the end of regulation, a franchise first.

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

Check out the Grand Rapids Griffins Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from January 14, 2004


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