NO LOVE LOST

ROCKFORD, Ill. – The Grand Rapids Griffins surrendered four unanswered goals – including two in a 4:11 third-period span – as they finished a three-in-three road trip with a 4-2 defeat to the Rockford IceHogs on Sunday at BMO Harris Bank Center.

Martin Frk started the scoring on the power play for the Griffins (27-19-1-1) 6:21 into the opening period. Nathan Paetsch sent a pass from the point to Frk, who blasted a slapshot from the top of the right circle off the left pad of Michael Leighton and in for his team-leading 19th of the campaign.

Tomas Nosek added to the Griffins’ lead when he made the most of a broken play at the 11:21 mark. Mark Zengerle’s pass from the right circle was supposed to reach Dan Cleary in front, only to deflect off the stick of Cameron Schilling and straight to Nosek for a tap-in at the right post.

Bryan Bickell got Rockford (28-11-5-4) on the scoresheet on a 5-on-3 power play with 3:13 left in the first. Nick Mattson’s feed from the left point found Bickell for a one-timer at the top of the right circle, beating Jared Coreau just inside the left post.

The IceHogs thought they evened the score with 8:13 remaining in the middle frame. Chris DeSousa’s slapshot from the right point went wide off the end boards, but Bickell followed up by attempting to squeeze the rebound in at the right post. Both the goal light and horn went on, but the referee behind the net immediately waved off the alleged goal.

Ryan Hartman would tie the game for the IceHogs 17 seconds later. After Mark McNeill crashed the net at the left post, Hartman retrieved the rebound in front of the crease and flipped the puck to the glove side and in.

Bickell gave Rockford their first lead of the night at the 5:04 mark of the final frame. Ville Pokka’s wrist shot from the point was deflected in front by Bickell, whose touch caused the puck to dip sharply to the glove side.

McNeill made it a two-goal cushion on the power play with 10:45 remaining. Pokka’s slapshot from the right circle forced a glove save from Coreau, but multiple IceHogs continued to jam away at the rebound with McNeill pushing the puck underneath the Grand Rapids netminder. In addition to keeping the IceHogs atop the Central Division and the Western Conference, Sunday’s result snapped a four-game winless streak.

Grand Rapids finished 1-for-4 on the power play, while Rockford scored twice on five opportunities. Leighton turned aside 25 of 27 shots for his 24th win of the season, while Coreau stopped 32 of 36 shots in a losing effort.

The Griffins play seven of their next eight games on home ice, returning to Van Andel Arena on Wednesday to take on the Milwaukee Admirals at 7 p.m.

Three Stars: 1. RFD Bickell (two goals); 2. RFD McNeill (goal, assist); 3. RFD Hartman (goal, assist)

Notes: The Griffins are the only team to post a winning record against Rockford this season (4-2-0-0)…Grand Rapids is 25-11-1-0 (.689) against the Central Division as well as 17-9-0-1 (.648) against teams with at least a .600 winning percentage.