Oct. 19, 2022

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - In his professional debut, netminder Sebastian Cossa collected 21 saves while the Grand Rapids Griffins anchored the Milwaukee Admirals to secure a 3-2 win at Van Andel Arena on Wednesday. The former first-round selection became the seventh goaltender in Griffins history to win his debut.

Austin Czarnik continued his hot streak with another goal, which put him at four tallies in three contests. Taro Hirose (1-1–2) and Matt Luff (0-2–2) each contributed with two-point outings, while Kirill Tyutyayev notched the game-winner.

Cossa was matched up with fellow former first-round goaltender Yaroslav Askarov, who was also making his AHL debut. The young goalies played tough in the opening period, stopping 17 of 18 combined shots on goal.

Cossa was the first to concede when Luke Evangelista lasered the puck under the netminder’s glove to secure a 1-0 lead for the visitors with 11:02 left in the initial frame. Cossa remained undeterred, saving seven more attempts to close the stanza including a blocked shot from the slot by John Leonard on an odd-man rush with 8:14 to go.

Defense began to turn into offense for the home squad in the second period, beginning at the 10:15 mark when Luff slung the puck to Czarnik at the left circle and scored his 100th pro tally of his career. Luff later joined in on the defensive effort with a steal at mid-ice, passing up to Hirose who ran away on the 2-on-1 opportunity. Hirose fired into the top-shelf and gave Grand Rapids a 2-1 lead with 5:10 left.

The Admirals found some wiggle room in the Griffins defense, tacking on a tying goal at 5:30 in the final period, as Tommy Novak slid the puck past the left side of Cossa off a blocked shot.

Tied at two apiece, Cedric Lacroix had two shots on goal before Tyutyayev found the back of the net from the left side of the low slot to regain the lead permanently exactly five minutes after Milwaukee’s tally. Lacroix’s two shot attempts seconds before the goal gave him his first point with the Griffins.

Tyutyayev’s second goal in as many games ultimately proved to be the game-winner as the Griffins killed the Admirals power play and fended off a 6-on-4 chance after pulling Askarov with 1:18 remaining.

Notes
- Ben Simon appeared in his 250th game as the Griffins head coach and moved to 118-102-19-11 (0.532) all time with Grand Rapids.
- Czarnik has now recorded a point in all three games for a team-leading total of six (4-2–6).

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

1st Period-1, Milwaukee, Evangelista 1 (Leonard, McKeown), 8:58. Penalties-No Penalties

2nd Period-2, Grand Rapids, Czarnik 4 (Luff, Hirose), 10:15. 3, Grand Rapids, Hirose 1 (Luff), 14:50. Penalties-Parssinen Mil (interference), 5:36; Kondelik Mil (tripping), 10:42; Andreasson Gr (cross-checking), 15:31.

3rd Period-4, Milwaukee, Novak 1 (Gravel, Schneider), 5:30. 5, Grand Rapids, Tyutyayev 2 (Lacroix, Kampfer), 10:30. Penalties-Jankowski Mil (roughing), 11:29; Lashoff Gr (tripping), 17:08.

Shots on Goal-Milwaukee 12-2-9-23. Grand Rapids 6-6-13-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Milwaukee 0 / 2; Grand Rapids 0 / 3.
Goalies-Milwaukee, Askarov 0-1-0 (25 shots-22 saves). Grand Rapids, Cossa 1-0-0 (23 shots-21 saves).
A-4,839

Three Stars
1. GR Cossa (W, 21 saves); 2. GR Hirose (goal, assist); 3. MIL Evangelista (goal).

Record / Next Game
Grand Rapids: 2-1-0-0 (4 pts.) / Sat., Oct. 22 vs. Toronto 4 p.m.
Milwaukee: 1-1-0-0 (2 pts.) / Sat., Oct. 22 vs Manitoba 6 p.m. CDT

Photo by Nicolas Carrillo/Griffins