GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The Grand Rapids Griffins fell 5-2 to the Rockford IceHogs on Saturday at Van Andel Arena in their final regular-season home game.

John Leonard potted a helper to extend his point streak to five games (2-5—7), while Jesse Kiiskinen made his AHL debut and bagged his first point with an assist. Sheldon Dries notched his 23rd goal of the season, and Alex Doucet tied his AHL career high with his seventh tally of the campaign. Grand Rapids moved to 49-15-4-1 through 69 games (103 pts.), and finished 24-9-3-0 on home ice in the regular season. 

The Griffins tallied the opening goal 2:16 into the first period. Jakub Rychlovsky dropped one off to Gabriel Seger, who tapped it to Doucet in the slot, and he slapped a one-timer past Olivier Rodrigue. With 9:44 on the clock, Ryan Gagnier stuffed the puck past Sebastian Cossa’s right skate on a wraparound attempt, and 1:24 later, the IceHogs claimed a one-goal advantage when Kevin Lombardi popped his own rebound past the left post. 

The best opportunity for Grand Rapids in the second frame came with 11:46 remaining while on the power play. Leonard centered it from the right circle to Dries on the doorstep and he attempted to backhand the puck past Rodrigue’s right side, but failed to convert, leaving the period scoreless. 

Just 67 seconds into the final slate, Leonard fed the puck across the slot to Kiiskinen, and he tapped it down low to Dries, who punched it past Rodrigue’s left side to knot the game at 2-2. Rockford took back its advantage when Dmitry Kuzmin snapped one in from the near point. Cossa hit the bench with 56 seconds to play, and Rockford potted two empty-netters from Taige Harding with 35 seconds to go, followed by Rem Pitlick 11 seconds later to defeat the Griffins 5-2. 

Notes

• The Griffins’ current magic number to clinch the AHL regular-season title is 12, while the Providence Bruins have a magic number of two.
• Grand Rapids finished 7-3-0-0 against Rockford in the regular season.

Box Score

Rockford 2 0 3 - 5

Grand Rapids 1 0 1 - 2

1st Period-1, Grand Rapids, Doucet 7 (Seger, Rychlovský), 2:16. 2, Rockford, Gagnier 4 (Harding), 10:16. 3, Rockford, Lombardi 13 (Pitlick, Engelbert), 11:38. Penalties-Engelbert Rfd (hooking), 15:44.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Kannok Leipert Gr (holding), 3:29; Mast Rfd (hooking), 7:51; Savoie Rfd (slashing), 14:46.

3rd Period-4, Grand Rapids, Dries 23 (Kiiskinen, Leonard), 1:07. 5, Rockford, Kuzmin 5 (Misiak, Gagnier), 2:29. 6, Rockford, Harding 3   19:25 (EN). 7, Rockford, Pitlick 22 (Mast), 19:36 (EN). Penalties-Tralmaks Gr (tripping), 3:38; Seney Rfd (goaltender interference), 4:07; Kiiskinen Gr (tripping), 6:40; Stachowiak Gr (high-sticking), 9:46; Rychlovský Gr (high-sticking), 16:51.

Shots on Goal-Rockford 10-6-7-23. Grand Rapids 7-13-8-28.

Power Play Opportunities-Rockford 0 / 5; Grand Rapids 0 / 4.

Goalies-Rockford, Rodrigue 4-3-1 (28 shots-26 saves). Grand Rapids, Cossa 26-8-4 (21 shots-18 saves).

A-9,064

Three Stars

1. RFD Gagnier (goal, assist) 2. RFD Kuzmin (game-winner) 3. GR Kiiskinen (first AHL point)

Record/Next Game

Grand Rapids: 49-15-4-1 (103 pts.) / Wed., April 15 at Iowa 8 p.m. EDT

Rockford: 28-36-3-2 (61 pts.) / Sun., April 12 at Chicago 3 p.m. CDT

Photo by Nicolas Carrillo/Griffins