AHL Grand Rapids Griffins

Marlies Down Griffins in Overtime

Published on April 7, 2012 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


TORONTO, Ontario - Philippe Dupuis scored 45 seconds into overtime to give the Toronto Marlies a 3-2 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins on Saturday afternoon at Ricoh Coliseum.

Grand Rapids (32-29-7-4) picked up one point to move within four points of the final playoff spot with four games remaining in the regular season. The team will travel to Rochester to a game against the Americans at 7:05 p.m. on Tuesday before hosting Chicago for its regular season home finale on Friday at 7 p.m.

The Marlies (43-23-4-3), who beat Grand Rapids 4-2 at Van Andel last night, picked up where they left off last night and got out to a 1-0 lead 10:33 into the opening frame. With Toronto captain Ryan Hamilton screening Griffins goaltender Tom McCollum, Jerry D'Amigo found himself with time in the slot, and he made no mistake in giving the home team the 1-0 advantage with a quick wrist shot.

It didn't take the Griffins long to rebound from a first period that saw them go down 1-0 while being outshot 15-9. Just 28 seconds into the second frame, Doug Janik took a feed from Tomas Tatar and wired a slap shot from the left point through traffic and past Toronto netminder Jussi Rynnas to knot the game at one.

The Griffins took the lead 6:03 into the second period. Louis-Marc Aubry blocked an attempted to clear the zone by Toronto and made a nice play to find Fabian Brunnstrom in front of the Marlies net. Brunnstrom put a fake on Rynnas and placed a backhand shot between the goaltender and the post to give the Griffins a 2-1 advantage heading into the third period.

Marcel Mueller tied the game at two when he beat McCollum with a backhand shot from the slot after collecting a pass from Nicolas Deschamps at 14:56 of the third period. The goal gave Mueller and Deschamps four points against the Griffins in the teams' home-and-home set this weekend.

Forty-five seconds into overtime, Dupuis raced down the right wing and ripped a shot past McCollum to give the Marlies their fourth straight win over the Griffins, after Grand Rapids took the first four games of the season series.

McCollum earned third-star honors with 32 saves on 35 shots, while Rynnas earned the victory with 33 stops.

Notes: Francis Pare matched Gustav Nyquist's team-best eight-game point streak with the assist he picked up on the Griffins' first goal. Pare has 11 points (2-9 - 11) in his past eight contests.

Three Stars: 1. TOR Dupuis (game-winning goal); 2. TOR D'Amigo (goal); 3. GR McCollum (32 saves)

Check out the Grand Rapids Griffins Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Hockey League Stories from April 7, 2012


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central