MARLIES HOLD OFF LATE RALLY

TORONTO – A third-period rally came up short for the Grand Rapids Griffins on Sunday as the Toronto Marlies answered two late Griffins goals to hang on to a 3-2 victory at Ricoh Coliseum.

The season series now stands at three games apiece, and the teams meet again Wednesday when Grand Rapids (27-33-2-5) welcomes Toronto (40-18-3-5) to Van Andel Area at 7 p.m.

The Griffins caught a break with 1:32 remaining in the first period when an apparent Marlies goal was waved off as Toronto was whistled for offsides. The opening session saw Toronto outshoot Grand Rapids 12-9, but neither team found the net.

That changed when Alex Foster tucked a slap shot from the left point past Jimmy Howard just inside the left pipe for a 1-0 Marlies lead at 8:28 of the middle frame on the feed from Colin Murphy.

Tyler Redenbach evened the count for Grand Rapids seconds after a draw as he picked up the puck in the lower part of the right circle and whistled a low shot behind Scott Clemmensen at 4:27 of the third period. The tally was Redenbach’s first goal in a Griffins uniform.

The Marlies needed just 90 seconds to recapture the lead, however. Brent Aubin grabbed the rebound from John Mitchell’s shot in front of the Grand Rapids net, drew Howard to the ice and shot the puck over Howard’s outstretched left arm for a 2-1 Toronto edge at 5:57.

The Griffins knotted the score again as Redenbach controlled the puck deep in the Toronto zone and found Jamie Tardif in front of the net, where Tardif jammed home a power play goal at 10:41. The Marlies answered 32 seconds later to climb back on top for good when Peter Tsimikalis cleaned up a rebound to put Toronto ahead 3-2.

Howard made 28 saves in the Griffins’ net, while Clemmensen stopped 27 shots for the Marlies. Grand Rapids has now scored a power play goal in nine of its past 10 contests, totaling 12 tallies on the advantage in that span.