HALT, HOWARD'S BACK

DES MOINES, Iowa – Jimmy Howard earned his second consecutive shutout in his first appearance since New Year’s Eve as the Grand Rapids Griffins blanked the Iowa Stars Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena 4-0.

With the victory Head Coach Greg Ireland notched his 95th win, tying him with Bruce Cassidy for second all-time in wins by a Griffins’ bench boss (Danton Cole, 116). Ireland will look to gain sole possession of second place tomorrow night in the conclusion of their back-to-back set in Iowa against the Stars at 8:05 p.m. EST.

Darryl Bootland opened the scoring at the 6:00 mark off a pass from Ryan Keller allowing him to skate behind the defense and undress the Iowa goaltender with a great move to give the Griffins an early lead.

The Griffins added to their advantage just 42 seconds into the middle frame during a power play as a goal mouth skirmish ensued in front of Dan Ellis and Matt Hussey finally jammed the puck over the goal line.

The special teams unit converted again for Grand Rapids at 11:27, only this time it was the penalty killing unit that tallied a shorthanded goal. Eric Himelfarb and Hussey sped up the ice creating a 2-on-1, where Himelfarb sent the puck across to Hussey who fed it right back allowing Himelfarb to snap a shot into the open net.

Bootland scored his second lamp lighter of the night when he let a low shot go from the high slot and collected his own rebound to rip the second attempt upstairs at 9:00 of the third period. The goal stood as the final tally of the game while the Stars remained scoreless and the Griffins went on to win on the road for the first time since January 8th in Philadelphia.

Making his first appearance since New Year’s Eve, Howard earned his second consecutive shutout with 28 saves while Ellis recorded 23 at the other end.