AMERKS' DENNIS A MENACE

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Adam Dennis turned away 32 shots to lead the Rochester Americans past the Grand Rapids Griffins 4-2 Friday at the Blue Cross Arena.

Grand Rapids (27-35-2-5), which remains winless in three games at Rochester (20-38-6-4) this season, stays in New York one more day for a tilt with the Syracuse Crunch Saturday at 8 p.m.

The Griffins wasted no time getting on the board, jumping to a 1-0 lead 14 seconds after the puck dropped. Francis Lemieux controlled the puck in the right circle and fed Jonathan Ericsson in the slot for a wrist shot that found the twine, marking the quickest Grand Rapids goal from the start of a game this season.

Rochester counterpunched later in the opening session, grabbing a 2-1 lead in rapid-fire fashion. Tommy Goebel advanced through right wing and centered the puck, allowing Marc-Andre Gragnani to send a one-timer past Jimmy Howard at 18:26. Moments later, Martin Lojek’s long pass up ice sprung Dylan Hunter for a breakaway chance. Hunter was initially stopped as he went stick side on Howard, but he managed to tap in the rebound two seconds before intermission.

Carl Corazzini knotted the score 2-2 at 13:51 of the second period after Tyler Redenbach carried the puck into the Rochester zone and circled back to the left point. Corazzini angled through the slot where Redenbach’s pass found him, and Corazzini zipped a shot past Dennis.

Rochester reclaimed the lead for good with a power play tally at 16:21. Gragnani set up the attack from the high slot and passed to Mark Mancari, who crossed the puck to Clarke MacArthur. Howard could not recover in time as MacArthur went upstairs over the sprawling netminder to light the lamp.

The Griffins had an opportunity to tie the score when Corazzini was awarded a penalty shot with 1:05 remaining in the game, but Dennis turned aside the try to preserve Rochester’s lead. Hunter added an empty net goal for the Americans at 19:46, bringing the final count to 4-2.

Howard recorded 29 saves in the Grand Rapids net, while the Griffins’ power play came up empty in six chances.