March 19, 2023

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Grand Rapids Griffins dropped their second-consecutive contest to the Milwaukee Admirals in a 3-1 loss at the Jake Engel Memorial Dog Game at Van Andel Arena.

Matt Luff and Danny O’Regan combined for the lone score for Grand Rapids in the first period. Luff and O’Regan have been the catalysts of the team in their last 15 outings, with Luff recording 12 points (5-7–12) and O’Regan posting 16 (6-10–16) in that span. John Lethemon drew his second start for the Griffins, nabbing 22 saves on 24 shots. In his two starts, Lethemon has a 2.95 GAA and 0.908 save percentage.

Despite outpacing the Admirals in shots 15-7, the Griffins were unable to light the lamp in the opening frame. Dominik Shine and Zach Sanford dropped the gloves at 9:44, highlighting 20 minutes of contentious play.

Luff broke the scoreless tie at 9:35, as O’Regan forced a turnover and found Luff in the slot. Luff’s shot ricocheted off the right post and in the cage to give Grand Rapids a 1-0 advantage. Tye Felhaber tallied a power-play goal to tie it with 3:35 to go in the second, his third of the season and second of the weekend.

Roland McKeown captured the lead for Milwaukee on the behalf of a short-handed goal at 15:53. The Griffins pulled Lethemon at 18:10, but Anthony Angello tacked on an empty-netter with 1:15 remaining to secure a 3-1 win for the Admirals.

Notes
- Tonight was the Griffins’ fourth sellout of the season and the firsts non-friday/Saturday sellout since Dec. 31, 2019 (Tuesday). The total attendance was 10,834 fans, including 221 dogs.
- Grand Rapids has scored just two goals or less in each of its last five games against the Admirals and is averaging 1.57 goals per contest against Milwaukee.

Box Score
Milwaukee 0 1 2 - 3
Grand Rapids 0 1 0 - 1

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Cairns Mil (kneeing), 9:44; Sanford Mil (roughing), 9:44; Shine Gr (roughing), 9:44; Newpower Gr (roughing), 19:03.

2nd Period-1, Grand Rapids, Luff 8 (O’Regan), 9:35. 2, Milwaukee, Felhaber 3 (Ratcliffe, M. Del Gaizo), 16:25 (PP). Penalties-Thompson Mil (tripping), 5:44; Pearson Gr (holding), 16:17; Mutter Mil (roughing), 19:11.

3rd Period-3, Milwaukee, McKeown 6 (Leonard), 15:53 (SH). 4, Milwaukee, Angello 8 18:45 (EN). Penalties-Cairns Mil (roughing), 1:35; Lashoff Gr (roughing), 1:35; Mutter Mil (slashing), 13:58.

Shots on Goal-Milwaukee 7-11-7-25. Grand Rapids 15-10-9-34.
Power Play Opportunities-Milwaukee 1 / 2; Grand Rapids 0 / 4.
Goalies-Milwaukee, Askarov 22-13-4 (34 shots-33 saves). Grand Rapids, Lethemon 0-1-1 (24 shots-22 saves).
A-10,834

Three Stars
1. MIL Yaroslav Askarov (W, 33 saves); 2. MIL McKeown (goal); 3. GR Luff (goal).

Record / Next Game
Grand Rapids: 25-29-4-3 (57 pts.) / Wed., March 22 vs. Chicago 7 p.m.
Milwaukee: 35-20-3-2 (75 pts.) / Wed., March 22 at Toronto 6 p.m. CDT

Photo by Nicolas Carrillo/Griffins