WHEN PIGS FLY

Rockford IceHogs 4 at GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 1

Dec. 8, 2017

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Rockford IceHogs rallied from an early and brief deficit to claim a 4-1 win over the Griffins on Friday at Van Andel Arena, giving them a 4-0 record against Grand Rapids this season.

The Griffins (9-11-0-3) missed a chance to climb to the .500 mark while suffering their first home regulation loss during the month of December in three years. They’ll have an opportunity for swift vengeance on Saturday as they travel to Rockford (14-9-1-0) for a 7 p.m. EST rematch with the IceHogs.

Matt Puempel staked the Griffins to a 1-0 lead for the third straight game, scoring during a power play 12:45 into the opening period. From the right boards, Matt Lorito lasered a pass to Eric Tangradi at the goal mouth. Jeff Glass turned aside Tangradi’s attempt, but after the puck slid into the left circle, Puempel buried it for his team-leading ninth goal of the campaign.

Less than three minutes later, former Griffin Tomas Jurco burned his old mates during a line change to knot the score at the 15:38 mark. Taking a pass from David Kampf at the Grand Rapids blue line, Jurco burst into the zone and ripped a shot past Jared Coreau’s blocker before three pursuing defenders could converge on him.

Rockford’s late scoring touch resurfaced in the second frame to give the visitors a 2-1 lead through 40 minutes. Picking up the puck at center ice, Andreas Martinsen raced down the left boards and around a defender before lifting a shot from the bottom of the circle that cleared both a sliding Joe Hicketts and Coreau’s right shoulder at 17:20.

With 12 seconds left in the period, Glass lunged to his left during an odd-man rush to rob Ben Street with a beautiful glove save. A simultaneous slashing call gave the Griffins a bounty of fresh power play ice to begin the third, but they were unable to capitalize.

Grand Rapids received another advantage midway through the third thanks to a tripping call on Ville Pokka. However, the best scoring chance went to Rockford, as Coreau stuck out his right pad to thwart Graham Knott’s bid for a shorthanded breakaway goal and keep the Griffins within one.

Robin Norell salted away the game at 18:21 on a slap shot from the left point that put Rockford ahead 3-1, and Luke Johnson accounted for the final margin by scoring into an empty net with 41 seconds remaining.

Glass improved to 8-2-1 on the season behind 33 saves, while Coreau made 23 for a Griffins squad that went 1-for-4 on the power play and squelched Rockford’s lone attempt.

Notes: Both of the IceHogs’ assistant coaches are former Griffins. Derek King (1999-01; 02-04) remains the franchise’s all-time playoff scoring leader (41 points) and ranks fifth on the regular season list (203 points), while Sheldon Brookbank logged 75 games on Grand Rapids’ blue line from 2001-03…The Griffins had gone 12-0-1-3 during their previous 16 home games during the month of December, dating to a loss to Todd Nelson’s Oklahoma City squad on Dec. 5, 2014. As Grand Rapids’ head coach, Nelson is now 10-1-0-2 at Van Andel Arena during the year’s final month.

Three Stars: 1. RFD Glass (W, 33 saves); 2. RFD Martinsen (game-winning goal); 3. GR Puempel (power play goal)