BETTER LEIGHTON THAN NEVER FOR 'HOGS

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Joakim Nordstrom scored off a defensive-zone turnover by the Grand Rapids Griffins with less than two minutes remaining to steal a 2-1 win for the Rockford IceHogs on Wednesday at Van Andel Arena.

Tom McCollum and Mike Leighton combined to stop 63 of 66 shots on the night, but when McCollum’s pass up the right side was picked off by Teuvo Teravainen and fed to Nordstrom in the high slot, he fired a low blast into the back of the net at 18:44 to give the visitors the surprising victory.

After a Mitch Callahan goal just 10 seconds into the game, Leighton stopped 38 shots over the final 59:50 and helped the IceHogs deny the home team on all eight of its power play chances. Those efforts, combined with an apparent Griffins goal that was negated by a quick whistle with 13 minutes left, dropped Grand Rapids’ home record this season to 0-3.

The Griffins (3-3-0-0) will attempt to earn that elusive first home-ice win on Friday when they host a Halloween affair against the Chicago Wolves at 7 p.m.

Moments after the opening puck dropped, Callahan took a stretch pass from Xavier Ouellet then finished off a 2-on-1 by tapping Teemu Pulkkinen’s return feed past Leighton. The lightning strike was two seconds off the Griffins’ record for fastest goal to start a game – set by Jamie Tardif on Dec. 30, 2008 at Peoria – but set the IceHogs’ mark for their fastest goal allowed by a margin of two seconds.

Rockford (5-2-0-1) used its own odd-man rush to knot the score at 5:46, as Matt Carey gathered a drop pass from Teravainen in the slot and pinpointed a shot over McCollum’s glove.

Grand Rapids, which outshot Rockford 13-7 over the first 20 minutes, survived 36 seconds of a 5-on-3 IceHogs power play that straddled the intermission and expired early in a scoreless middle frame. As a result, Rockford entered the third period tied with its opponent for the eighth time in as many games this season, and the ‘Hogs eventually skated off with their third straight win, despite being outshot 17-8 in the third and 39-27 for the game.

McCollum suffered his first loss in three appearances this season, finishing with 25 saves.

Notes: Assigned to Grand Rapids by the Detroit Red Wings for conditioning on Tuesday, Stephen Weiss made his debut and played two periods before leaving the game for precautionary reasons. The fourth overall selection by Florida in 2001, Weiss ties for the second-highest NHL draft pick to ever play for the Griffins, matching Darrin Shannon (No. 4 by Pittsburgh in 1988) behind only Jason Spezza (No. 2 by Ottawa in 2001). Weiss wore jersey No. 90, the second-highest number ever worn by a Griffin (92 Michael Nylander), and he became the eighth Red Wings player to make his Griffins debut during a conditioning stint, joining Carlo Colaiacovo (2012-13), Jonas Gustavsson (2012-13), Andreas Lilja (2009-10), Chris Chelios (2008-09), Manny Legace (2005-06), Chris Osgood (2005-06) and Curtis Joseph (2003-04).

Three Stars: 1. RFD Nordstrom (game-winning goal); 2. GR Callahan (goal); 3. RFD Leighton (W, 38 saves)