CHECKMATE

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Goals from Tomas Nosek, Kyle Criscuolo and Ben Street propelled the Grand Rapids Griffins to their third straight win, defeating the Charlotte Checkers 3-1 on Sunday at Bojangles’ Coliseum.

Grand Rapids has outscored its opponents 16-3 over the last three games and earned points for the 11th time in 12 contests (8-1-1-2). The Griffins return to Van Andel Arena on Wednesday to take on the Central Division-leading Milwaukee Admirals at 7 p.m.

The Griffins (17-7-1-2) started the scoring on the power play with a tic-tac-toe sequence 16:35 into the opening period. Martin Frk faked a slapshot from the top of the left circle and slid the puck across to Matt Lorito at the right circle, who in turn sent the puck through the goal mouth in the direction of Mitch Callahan at the left side of the net. The puck ended up on the stick of Tomas Nosek in front for a shot over a sprawling Alex Nedeljkovic for his sixth goal of the campaign.

Levko Koper evened the score for Charlotte (11-15-2-0) 4:42 into the middle period when he gained the zone along the right wing before driving the net and placing a shot inside the left post.

The visitors jumped back in front on a delayed penalty with 8:30 remaining in the second. Evgeny Svechnikov’s initial effort hit traffic in front before Criscuolo grabbed the rebound in the slot and snapped a wrist shot into the top left corner for his ninth goal of the season.

Charlotte kept the puck in the offensive zone for much of the final frame, eventually forcing Eddie Pasquale to make his most important save of the contest in the final minute of play. With Nedeljkovic pulled for the extra skater, Andrew Poturalski’s wrist shot from the left circle ended up at the right side of the net, but the Grand Rapids netminder dove back to his right post to prevent Jake Chelios from jamming home the rebound. Street put the game beyond any doubt with an empty-netter from his own zone with 42 seconds on the clock.

Grand Rapids finished 1-for-2 on the man advantage while Charlotte came up empty in a 0-for-3 performance. Pasquale stopped 26 shots to earn the victory as Nedeljkovic turned aside 23 shots in defeat after blocking 17-of-20 in relief on Saturday.

Notes: Lorito registered an assist to move into a three-way tie for the AHL's scoring lead with 30 points (10-20–30)...The Griffins have scored a power play in eight of their last nine road contests, going 11-for-36 (30.6%) during that stretch…Criscuolo has registered 13 points over his last 12 outings (7-6–13)…The Griffins have killed 18 consecutive penalties over a five-game span.

Three Stars: 1. GR Criscuolo (game-winning goal); 2. GR Nosek (goal); 3. CHA Koper (goal)