TURNED AWAY
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Adam Dennis stopped all 33 shots the Grand Rapids Griffins offered Sunday, leading the Rochester Americans to a 1-0 victory at the Blue Cross Arena.
Grand Rapids (20-25-2-5) returns home to Van Andel Arena Friday to face the Lake Erie Monsters at 7 p.m. in Darren McCarty’s home debut. The Griffins finished their season-high six-game road stretch with a 2-4 mark and now have five consecutive games in friendly confines beginning with Friday’s tilt.
Adam Berkhoel and Dennis dueled to a scoreless tie deep into the second period, though the Griffins had outshot the Americans (15-32-3-4) by a sizable margin to that point. The standoff continued until Rochester converted a shorthanded goal after Yannick Tifu was assessed a five-minute major penalty late in the second period for a high stick against Mark Hartigan.
Marc-Andre Gragnani forced a turnover during the Griffins power play and created a breakaway situation for himself. Though Berkhoel stopped Gragnani’s first effort, the Grand Rapids netminder could not cover the rebound and Gragnani stuffed home the game’s only goal at 16:33.
The Griffins were awarded one last power play opportunity in the game’s waning moments as Mike Weber was assessed a major penalty with 37 seconds remaining. A flurry of activity around the Rochester net, however, did not translate into a game-tying goal before the final horn sounded.
Berkhoel, making his second start in the past four games, had 24 saves throughout an outstanding performance in the Grand Rapids net.
| Official Game Report |