BORN TO BEAT WILD

Iowa Wild 1 at GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 5

Nov. 25, 2015

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Reigning AHL Player of the Week Tomas Jurco validated his award on Wednesday by leading the Grand Rapids Griffins to a 5-1 taming of the Iowa Wild at Van Andel Arena.

Jurco scored twice to give him five goals – four of them on the power play – and nine points in only four games since being assigned by Detroit for conditioning on Nov. 17. As a result, the Griffins claimed their fourth straight win and improved to 5-1-0-1 in their last seven outings.

Not to be overlooked was a 28-save performance by Tom McCollum, who has authored two straight wins while stopping 55 of 57 shots in the process, and a three-point night by Mitch Callahan, whose second goal into an empty net provided the final margin. The Griffins have now won nine consecutive meetings with Iowa dating back to the 2013-14 season.

After prolonging the Wild’s misery with an 11th consecutive loss (0-10-0-1), the Griffins will look to end a streak on the opposite spectrum on Friday, when they travel to Milwaukee for an 8 p.m. EST start against an Admirals squad that has won 10 games in a row and has points in 11 straight (10-0-1-0).

The Griffins (6-8-0-1), who twice failed to score on the power play early on against a Wild team that, for all its struggles, leads the AHL in road penalty killing, broke through at even strength 13:16 into the opening period. From the top of the right circle, Ryan Sproul threaded a cross-ice pass to Jurco, who chipped a backdoor redirection past Leland Irving.

Nathan Paetsch made it a 2-0 game at 9:03 of the second period, collecting a Mark Zengerle pass above the left circle and teeing up a slap shot that blew past Irving’s blocker. For an Iowa club that scored more than two goals just four times its first 20 games – including just once in its previous 10 outings – the task of mounting a comeback was already daunting.

The visitors’ challenge became even steeper at the 14:18 mark, as a pair of quick drop passes by Andy Miele and Zengerle set up Callahan at the same spot as Paetsch’s tally for the Griffins’ third goal, a total that Iowa has eclipsed only once this season. Jurco then notched his second goal on the power play with 29 seconds remaining before intermission, slamming home Callahan’s backhand feed from the right circle.

After the Wild (3-15-1-2) swapped Irving for Jeremy Smith to start the third period, they spoiled McCollum’s shutout bid at 5:43, when Grayson Downing took advantage of the out-of-position netminder to pot Zack Mitchell’s pass into an open net for his ninth point in as many games with the Wild.

Callahan sunk a shot into Iowa’s purposely vacated cage to seal matters at the 18:19 mark.

Notes: McCollum’s 90th win as a Griffin tied Jimmy Howard for second place in franchise history, behind only Joey MacDonald (109)…Miele and Zengerle each had a season-high three assists...The Griffins secured their fourth straight home win, nudging their Van Andel Arena record over 0.500 (5-4-0-0), and claimed their fourth consecutive victory on “Winning Wednesday,” earning the 8,589 fans in attendance a free ticket to the Wednesday, Dec. 9 contest against Milwaukee…Grand Rapids’ four-game winning streak is its longest in the regular season since a nine-game run from Feb. 14-March 4, 2015.

Three Stars: 1. GR Jurco (two goals); 2. GR Callahan (two goals, assist); 3. GR McCollum (W, 28 saves)

Iowa Wild 1 at GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 5

Nov. 25, 2015

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Reigning AHL Player of the Week Tomas Jurco validated his award on Wednesday by leading the Grand Rapids Griffins to a 5-1 taming of the Iowa Wild at Van Andel Arena.

Jurco scored twice to give him five goals – four of them on the power play – and nine points in only four games since being assigned by Detroit for conditioning on Nov. 17. As a result, the Griffins claimed their fourth straight win and improved to 5-1-0-1 in their last seven outings.

Not to be overlooked was a 28-save performance by Tom McCollum, who has authored two straight wins while stopping 55 of 57 shots in the process, and a three-point night by Mitch Callahan, whose second goal into an empty net provided the final margin. The Griffins have now won nine consecutive meetings with Iowa dating back to the 2013-14 season.

After prolonging the Wild’s misery with an 11th consecutive loss (0-10-0-1), the Griffins will look to end a streak on the opposite spectrum on Friday, when they travel to Milwaukee for an 8 p.m. EST start against an Admirals squad that has won 10 games in a row and has points in 11 straight (10-0-1-0).

The Griffins (6-8-0-1), who twice failed to score on the power play early on against a Wild team that, for all its struggles, leads the AHL in road penalty killing, broke through at even strength 13:16 into the opening period. From the top of the right circle, Ryan Sproul threaded a cross-ice pass to Jurco, who chipped a backdoor redirection past Leland Irving.

Nathan Paetsch made it a 2-0 game at 9:03 of the second period, collecting a Mark Zengerle pass above the left circle and teeing up a slap shot that blew past Irving’s blocker. For an Iowa club that scored more than two goals just four times its first 20 games – including just once in its previous 10 outings – the task of mounting a comeback was already daunting.

The visitors’ challenge became even steeper at the 14:18 mark, as a pair of quick drop passes by Andy Miele and Zengerle set up Callahan at the same spot as Paetsch’s tally for the Griffins’ third goal, a total that Iowa has eclipsed only once this season. Jurco then notched his second goal on the power play with 29 seconds remaining before intermission, slamming home Callahan’s backhand feed from the right circle.

After the Wild (3-15-1-2) swapped Irving for Jeremy Smith to start the third period, they spoiled McCollum’s shutout bid at 5:43, when Grayson Downing took advantage of the out-of-position netminder to pot Zack Mitchell’s pass into an open net for his ninth point in as many games with the Wild.

Callahan sunk a shot into Iowa’s purposely vacated cage to seal matters at the 18:19 mark.

Notes: McCollum’s 90th win as a Griffin tied Jimmy Howard for second place in franchise history, behind only Joey MacDonald (109)…Miele and Zengerle each had a season-high three assists...The Griffins secured their fourth straight home win, nudging their Van Andel Arena record over 0.500 (5-4-0-0), and claimed their fourth consecutive victory on “Winning Wednesday,” earning the 8,589 fans in attendance a free ticket to the Wednesday, Dec. 9 contest against Milwaukee…Grand Rapids’ four-game winning streak is its longest in the regular season since a nine-game run from Feb. 14-March 4, 2015.

Three Stars: 1. GR Jurco (two goals); 2. GR Callahan (two goals, assist); 3. GR McCollum (W, 28 saves)