WOLVES FALL PREY TO GRIFFINS, 7-5

Feb. 9, 2011 - GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 7 at Chicago Wolves 5

ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Wolves fell prey to the Griffins 7-5 Wednesday night at the Allstate Arena, with the second-highest scoring game of the season series since Nov. 27, 2010 when Grand Rapids claimed a 10-8 victory on the road against Chicago.

The Griffins (23-23-1-5) wrapped up a six-game season series with three wins and three losses against the Wolves (26-23-2-4). The team will continue on the road for back-to-back games starting Saturday, when they travel to the Quicken Loans Arena to take on the Lake Erie Monsters at 7:00p.m.

Jamie Johnson began a scoring frenzy for the Griffins, with the first of four consecutive goals at 11:12 of the first period followed closely by Jordan Owens with a goal at 15:10. Cory Emmerton knocked one past Drew MacIntyre to contribute a goal with only 1:35 remaining, while Ilari Filppula wrapped up the frame with a last second goal at 19:59.

The Wolves made a goalie change at the start of the second period, after trailing 4-0 at the end of the first. Griffins quickly extended their lead 5-0 at 4:42, when Jamie Tardif slipped a power play goal past Peter Mannino. Chicago rallied late in the frame to land on the board at 17:35 with a power play goal off the stick of Nigel Dawes.

Grand Rapids returned to the third period with a 5-1 advantage, before Chicago found the net with back-to-back goals in the final stanza. Riley Holzapfel tallied one at 2:59, while Andrew Kozek snuck another goal past Jordan Pearce at 7:04. The Griffins made a quick goaltender change, as Thomas McCollum skated in for Pearce.

Ryan Garbutt quickly responded to the change for the Wolves, notching a goal at 14:31. Francis Pare returned fire for the Griffins, claiming a goal at 15:20 only to be followed two minutes later by Darren Haydar, who put a power play goal in the net for Chicago at 17:18.

The Griffins made a last minute push to extend the lead 7-5 with an unassisted, empty net goal by Filppula, who recorded his second of the night at 18:50. Both teams were almost even with shots on goal, with Pearce contributing 22 saves on 25 shots and McCollum posted 8 saves on 10 shots for a total of 30 saves. While the Wolves goaltenders recorded a total of 26 saves on 33 shots, MacIntyre made 15 stops on 19 shots and Mannino claimed 11 stops on 13 shots.