GRIFFINS TIE GAME LATE; FALL IN SHOOTOUT, 3-2

GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 2 at Rockford IceHogs 3

Oct. 20, 2017

ROCKFORD, Ill. – In a goaltending battle Friday night at the BMO Harris Bank Center, Tomas Jurco scored the decisive goal in the shootout to give the Rockford IceHogs a 3-2 victory over his former team, the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Jared Coreau and his Rockford counterpart, Jean-Francois Berube, combined for 70 saves and only four goals allowed.

The Griffins (2-2-0-1) finished their three-game road trip Friday night against the IceHogs (3-1-0-0) after splitting the first two games of the trip in California last weekend. Grand Rapids will return home to Van Andel Arena on Saturday night to take on the Hershey Bears at 7 p.m.

It took a mere four minutes for Rockford to get on the board first. Anthony Louis scored on the power play for his second goal of the season. He was set up by Laurent Dauphin with a centering pass to the slot where Louis flipped it over Coreau’s right shoulder for the 1-0 lead.

The Griffins tied the game up with 3:39 remaining in the period when Eric Tangradi netted his inaugural goal of the young campaign. The IceHogs turned the puck over in the neutral zone where it was gathered by Ben Street. Street made a quick pass to Dylan McIlrath who tapped it into the Rockford zone for an open Tangradi. The left winger beat two defenders to get the open shot that sent the puck between Berube’s legs.

Rockford tallied the only goal of the second frame with 43 seconds left when Luke Johnson added his first goal of the season. Louis made a centering pass from the left board to Johnson in the slot. The center made a quick deke, and shot the puck over Coreau’s left glove for the 2-1 lead.

With 1:28 left in regulation, Tangradi tied the game up with a power play goal from a deflection off of a Ryan Sproul shot. Sproul took the shot immediately after a faceoff in the Rockford zone.

The overtime period was filled with odd-man rushes from both teams. Each squad had four separate opportunities to win the game, but all of them were stonewalled by the goaltenders.

Jurco scored in the shootout’s opening round on Coreau’s glove side, and it would prove to be the difference in the game.

Notes: Each team killed five penalties…It was each team’s first shootout of the season…Evgeny Svechnikov tallied a plus-one rating and one shot on goal while making his season debut.

Three stars: 1. GR Tangradi (two goals); RFD Louis (goal, assist); RFD Berube (SOW, 34 saves)