GRIFFINS FINISH WILD 3-2

GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 3 at Iowa Wild 2

Oct. 27, 2013

Des Moines, Iowa — A last-minute shorthanded tally by Landon Ferraro broke a tie game and gave the Grand Rapids Griffins a 3-2 win against the Iowa Wild on Sunday at Wells Fargo Arena. The win concluded the Griffins three-game stretch in three days.

At 7:12 of the opening period, Nathan Paetsch gave the Griffins (4-2-1-1) an early lead with a rocket from the point. Cory Emmerton won a faceoff in the Wild’s zone, and Teemu Pulkkinen poked it back to Paetsch for the one-timer.

A goal by Luke Glendening with 52 seconds remaining in the first period extended the Griffins’ lead to 2-0. He received a pass from Pulkkinen near the Griffins’ blue line and drove to Iowa’s net, scoring above Iowa goaltender Darcy Kuemper’s left shoulder.

The Iowa Wild came out in the second period with a mission, scoring two goals in the first five minutes of the frame to tie it up. Tom McCollum went behind his net to clear the puck, but it took a strange bounce and landed on the stick of Iowa forward Jason Zucker, who only needed to tap the puck into the empty net to score at 2:38.

A few minutes later at 4:58, Iowa forward Warren Peters tied the game when he followed up on his own rebound and threw the puck at the net from a difficult angle along the left boards.

In a game with 13 penalties, the Griffins’ penalty kill held up against the Wild (4-2-0-0), holding them scoreless on seven power plays.

Despite Adam Almquist getting called for high sticking at 18:17 of the third period, the Griffins kept pushing offensively and Ferraro scored the shorthanded game-winner at 19:24. Emmerton intercepted a pass in the Grand Rapids zone, and passed the puck to Ferraro skating up the right side. Ferraro rushed the Iowa goal, and netted the puck in the lower left corner.

McCollum stopped 26 of 28 in the win, and Kuemper turned away 23 of 26.

The Griffins will face the Charlotte Checkers at 7 p.m. on Oct. 30 at Van Andel Arena in a rematch of Friday’s 5-0 loss.

Three Stars: 1. GR Ferraro (goal); 2. IA Peters (goal, assist); 3. GR Pulkkinen (two assists)