April 17, 2021

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Brandon Duhaime’s goal 1:56 into overtime on Saturday gave the Iowa Wild a 4-3 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins at Van Andel Arena.

The Griffins, who earned a point by rallying from a 3-1 deficit in the third period, have yet to lose in regulation this season on home ice (3-0-3-0), where they’ll play their next five games. They closed out their season series against Iowa with a 2-1-1-0 mark.

After scoring twice in the final 2:48 last night to pull out a 5-4 victory against the Wild, the Griffins resumed their scoring 2:47 into tonight’s contest. From the left boards, Joe Hicketts found Kyle Criscuolo darting through the slot for a redirection that evaded Dereck Baribeau and gave Grand Rapids the early lead.

The Wild, who last night scored three third-period goals in a span of 36 seconds, tallied twice in 56 seconds to grab a 2-1 advantage before intermission. Matt Bartkowski connected on a blast through traffic from the right point at 10:26, before Mitch McLain pounced on a Charle-Edouard D’Astous giveaway and slammed the puck past an unsuspecting Kaden Fulcher from the bottom of the left circle at 11:22.

The Griffins killed off two full minutes of a 5-on-3 Iowa power play late in the second to keep the margin at one, but the Wild pushed their lead to 3-1 at 4:14 of the third when Connor Dewar popped a rebound under the crossbar. But Grand Rapids answered 1:07 later, as Turner Elson stole the puck in the Iowa end and fed it to Givani Smith at the right post for a shot into a wide-open cage.

Riley Barber notched his 13th goal of the season during a power play at 13:39 to force overtime, connecting with a laser from the right circle into the far corner. He is now tied for third in the AHL’s goal-scoring race.

In overtime, after a Griffins scoring chance was thwarted, Duhaime picked up the puck behind his own net and skated up ice, eventually spearheading a 2-on-1 before sending a wrist shot past Fulcher from the top of the left circle.

Notes

• Fulcher made his AHL debut and played his first game in more than 15 months, due to an injury that ended his 2019-20 season, the pandemic, and bouncing between the Griffins and Detroit's taxi squad this season. His last game was Jan. 4, 2020, when he made 24 saves for the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye in a 5-2 home loss to Indy.
• Hicketts, who logged the 100th assist of his pro career last night, has registered assists in four of the last six games (0-7—7).
• The depleted Griffins enlisted forwards Dominik Shine and Tyler Spezia to play defense for the second straight night and skated one short in their forward ranks.

Box Score
Iowa 2 0 1 1 - 4
Grand Rapids 1 0 2 0 - 3

1st Period-1, Grand Rapids, Criscuolo 7 (Hicketts), 2:47. 2, Iowa, Bartkowski 1 (Atkinson, Boldy), 10:26. 3, Iowa, McLain 4 11:22. Penalties-Thompson Ia (delay of game), 6:48; served by Bitten Ia (bench minor - too many men), 17:06; Bartkowski Ia (roughing), 18:17; Barber Gr (roughing), 18:17.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Hicketts Gr (interference), 3:28; McLeod Ia (holding), 7:26; Dewar Ia (fighting), 14:49; MacLeod Gr (fighting), 14:49; Lukosevicius Gr (holding), 15:44; McIlrath Gr (cross-checking), 15:44; Hicketts Gr (cross-checking), 17:59.

3rd Period-4, Iowa, Dewar 10 (Chaffee), 4:14. 5, Grand Rapids, Smith 5 (Elson), 5:21. 6, Grand Rapids, Barber 13 (Pearson, Hirose), 13:39 (PP). Penalties-Grewe Gr (slashing), 6:32; McLeod Ia (tripping), 12:20.

OT Period-7, Iowa, Duhaime 2 1:56. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Iowa 6-9-13-1-29. Grand Rapids 12-10-7-1-30.

Power Play Opportunities-Iowa 0 / 5; Grand Rapids 1 / 4.

Goalies-Iowa, Baribeau 6-1-2 (30 shots-27 saves). Grand Rapids, Fulcher 0-0-1 (29 shots-25 saves).

A-750

Three Stars
1. IA Duhaime (overtime goal); 2. GR Barber (power play goal); 3. IA Dewar (goal)

Record / Next Game
Grand Rapids: 9-6-3-0 (21 pts.) / Tue., April 20 vs. Cleveland 7 p.m.
Iowa: 11-10-4-0 (26 pts.) / Fri., April 23 vs. Rockford 7 p.m. CDT

Photo by Nicolas Carrillo/Griffins