HAPPY RETURNS FOR BARONS

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Oklahoma City Barons rode two goals by Michigan native Andrew Miller and three assists from former Griffin and Detroit Red Wing Jason Williams to a 4-1 win over Grand Rapids on Friday at Van Andel Arena.

The Griffins’ four-game winning streak on home ice saw its demise, as a 28-save performance by Richard Bachman dropped their record back to 0.500 on the season. The Barons, meanwhile, posted their seventh consecutive victory and stretched their point streak to nine games (8-0-0-1).

Grand Rapids, which just concluded a four-game road swing on Tuesday, will hop back on the bus for a pair of games this weekend, beginning with a visit to the AHL-leading Rockford IceHogs on Saturday at 8 p.m. EST.

Oklahoma City (13-4-2-2) took the lead 10:08 into the opening period, when Miller won a jump-ball for the puck inside the Griffins’ blue line then skated into the left circle before threading a wrist shot into the far corner of Tom McCollum’s net.

Miller, from Bloomfield Hills, continued his happy homecoming with a power play goal at 9:47 of the second. He found the rebound of Brad Hunt’s point blast in the slot and slipped a shot beneath McCollum’s pads that trickled over the line, giving him the first multi-goal game of his two-year pro career.

Although the Griffins (9-9-2-0) had actually carried the play to that point, Bachman continued to shut the door on the home team’s chances, including stoning a partial breakaway by Andreas Athanasiou with 5:28 left in the frame, to shepherd the Barons’ two-goal lead into the third period.

At the 4:21 mark of that final period, Ryan Hamilton, sprung on a break by a Williams pass at the Grand Rapids blue line, deked to his backhand before stuffing the puck past McCollum for a commanding 3-0 Oklahoma City advantage.

Teemu Pulkkinen, tied for the AHL scoring lead entering the night, ended Bachman’s shutout bid with 5:39 remaining. His cannon from the left point changed direction off a Barons defender on its way past Bachman, giving him a team-high 10 goals on the campaign.

Anton Lander finished the scoring with an empty-net tally at 17:41.

McCollum stopped 17 of 20 shots for the Griffins, who went 0-for-3 on the power play while allowing the Barons to convert their only opportunity.

Notes: The Barons’ Williams, a 2002 Stanley Cup champion with the Detroit Red Wings, played his first official game at Van Andel Arena since the 2003 AHL playoffs, when he finished his lone season as a member of the Griffins. Grand Rapids dropped Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals on May 22, 2003 by a 2-1 count to the visiting Houston Aeros, who continued on to win the Calder Cup with the help of current Griffins captain Jeff Hoggan, then a rookie with the Aeros. Williams did skate in this building later that year, though, during Detroit’s Red & White intrasquad game on Sept. 18, 2003.

Three Stars: 1. OKC Miller (two goals); 2. OKC Bachman (W, 28 saves); 3. OKC Williams (three assists)