DEUCE BEATS WILD

Iowa Wild 1 at GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 2

Feb. 24, 2018

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Tom McCollum made 22 saves and came within three seconds of a shutout as the Grand Rapids Griffins defeated the Iowa Wild 2-1 on Saturday in a clash of Central Division powers at Van Andel Arena.

Matthew Ford and Matt Lorito scored power play goals 4:26 apart during the second period to give Grand Rapids all the offense it would need. Coupled with Chicago’s 2-0 loss at Manitoba earlier today, the Griffins have leapfrogged both the Wolves and Wild into second place in the division with a mark of 29-19-1-6 (.591).

Grand Rapids, which improved to 10-1-0-2 (.846) in its last 13 contests and 19-4-0-3 (.788) in its last 26, will host a rematch with the Wild at 4 p.m. Sunday in the Griffins’ Jake Engel Memorial Bring Your Dog Game.

The Griffins dominated the opening period to the tune of a 16-6 advantage in shots, but Iowa netminder Niklas Svedberg was up to the task to keep the game scoreless through 20 minutes.

Grand Rapids finally broke through on its 20th shot during a power play 12:06 into the second period. After keeping the puck in the Wild’s zone along the right boards, Joe Hicketts skated to the point and slid a pass across to Vili Saarijarvi for a one-timer from the left circle that glanced off the stick of Ford as he screened Svedberg on the doorstep. Ford’s 20th goal of the season marked the fifth time in his AHL career that he’s reached that milestone.

Afforded another man-advantage three-and-a-half minutes later thanks to a tripping call on Svedberg, the Griffins quickly capitalized to build a two-goal lead, with Lorito crashing the crease to bang home a loose puck at 16:32.

McCollum ensured that Grand Rapids would take that 2-0 cushion into the second intermission by making several saves in the frantic final seconds of the frame, diving back toward his right post to deny a rebound try by Justin Kloos before turning away Alex Grant’s slap shot through traffic just before the buzzer.

The score remained unchanged deep into the third period, when the Wild pulled Svedberg for an extra attacker with 3:30 left. As time wound down it looked as though McCollum would register his first shutout of the season, but Kurtis Gabriel launched a desperation one-timer from the left circle that ticked off McCollum and trickled into the back of the net at 19:57.

Svedberg was a busy man between the Wild’s pipes in the loss, stopping 31 of 33 shots.

Notes: The Griffins went 2-for-3 on the power play while killing off all three Iowa opportunities…The crowd of 10,221 marked the Griffins’ fifth straight weekend home game with an attendance in excess of 10,000. Van Andel Arena’s capacity is 10,834.

Three Stars: 1. GR McCollum (W, 22 saves); 2. GR Ford (power play goal); 3. IA Svedberg (L, 31 saves)