FOR AN ENCORE

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Two closely fought contests the last two nights between the last two Calder Cup champions resulted in two overtime victories for the Grand Rapids Griffins, who beat the Texas Stars 2-1 on Saturday thanks to a breakaway goal by Kevin Porter with 40 seconds remaining in the extra session.

The Griffins, who trumped the defending AHL champs 3-2 at Van Andel Arena on Friday, used the first professional goal by Anthony Mantha in the second period and Porter’s overtime winner to post their third straight home win and claw back to the 0.500 mark on the season at 6-6-1-0.

Grand Rapids, which has won consecutive games in overtime for the first time since Dec. 18-20, 2013, will enjoy nearly a week off before commencing a home-and-home series with the Lake Erie Monsters. Cleveland will be the site of the first matchup on Friday at 7:30 p.m., before the teams return to Van Andel Arena next Saturday at 7 p.m.

After making his highly anticipated pro debut on Friday, Mantha tallied his first goal 13:12 into the second period, finishing off a rush to give Grand Rapids the lead. From the left circle, Andy Miele sent a pass to the doorstep for Teemu Pulkkinen, who quickly backhanded the puck to Mantha at the right post for a tap-in past Jussi Rynnas.

The Stars (6-3-4-0) pulled even with 10:37 remaining in the third. Off a faceoff win in the Griffins’ zone, Mike Dalhuisen took a pass from William Wrenn at the point and launched a shot that found its way through traffic and past Tom McCollum.

In overtime, McCollum made a brilliant left pad save on a shot by Travis Morin with 1:15 left to keep Grand Rapids alive, then stopped Morin again with his right pad to spark the game-winning play. Landon Ferraro picked up Morin’s rebound and quickly headmanned a long pass to Porter, who finally tracked it down between the circles before putting a shot past Rynnas’ blocker.

McCollum earned his third win of the campaign by stopping 23 of 24 shots, while Rynnas suffered the loss despite 34 saves.

Notes: Former Michigan State netminder Jeff Lerg served as McCollum’s understudy after being signed to a tryout earlier today. The six-year pro has appeared in five games (4-1-0) with the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye this season and currently leads that circuit with a 1.61 GAA and a 0.940 save percentage.

Three Stars: 1. GR McCollum (OTW, 23 saves); 2. GR Porter (game-winning goal); 3. GR Mantha (goal)