April 16, 2021

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A 13-day layoff and a month between home games proved to be worth the wait for the Grand Rapids Griffins, who allowed four unanswered tallies to the Iowa Wild in the third period but counterpunched with a pair of late goals to seize a 5-4 victory on Friday at Van Andel Arena.

Grand Rapids built a 3-0 cushion early in the third before the Wild scored three times in 36 seconds then took a 4-3 lead on Matt Boldy’s goal with 5:19 remaining. But Taro Hirose forged a deadlock at 17:12 and Dominic Turgeon netted the game-winner from the left side at 19:18 to snap the Griffins’ three-game skid and the Wild’s eight-game point streak.

Jarid Lukosevicius’ first goal of the year gave Grand Rapids the lead 10:51 into the game. In the right circle of the Iowa zone, the Wild won a faceoff back to the end boards, but Lukosevicius beat his defender to the puck and tried a wraparound before poking his own rebound past Hunter Jones.

After a scoreless second period, the Griffins scored twice in the first four minutes of the eight-goal third to jump ahead 3-0. Kyle Criscuolo tipped in Dylan McIlrath’s shot from the right point at 2:50, before Albin Grewe tallied his first goal in North America with a snipe from the top of the circles at 3:55.

The most dangerous lead in hockey proved to be exactly that, as Iowa got goals from Gerry Mayhew at 9:32, Brandon Duhaime at 9:46 and – after a Grand Rapids timeout – Mason Shaw at 10:08 to knot the score. Boldy’s unassisted tally on Kevin Boyle then gave the Wild a shocking 4-3 lead.

Unbowed, Hirose potted a feed from Criscuolo from low in the left circle with less than three minutes remaining for the tying counterpunch, leaving Turgeon to finish the Wild 2:06 later off a Givani Smith pass, completing the late rally.

Note

• Forwards Dominik Shine and Tyler Spezia played the entire game on defense for the Griffins, who dressed only four regular defensemen due to a depleted corps.

Box Score
Iowa 0 0 4 - 4
Grand Rapids 1 0 4 - 5

1st Period-1, Grand Rapids, Lukosevicius 1 10:51. Penalties-McLeod Ia (fighting), 3:03; McIlrath Gr (fighting), 3:03; served by Bitten Ia (bench minor - too many men), 5:09; Smith Gr (interference), 5:09; Duhaime Ia (fighting), 7:43; Curry Gr (fighting), 7:43; Mayhew Ia (high-sticking), 12:59.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Loggins Gr (hooking), 7:51; Belpedio Ia (boarding), 17:06.

3rd Period-2, Grand Rapids, Criscuolo 6 (McIlrath, D’Astous), 2:50. 3, Grand Rapids, Grewe 1 (MacLeod, Hicketts), 3:55. 4, Iowa, Mayhew 7 (Boldy), 9:32. 5, Iowa, Duhaime 1 (Bitten, Dumont), 9:46. 6, Iowa, Shaw 6 (Mayhew, Bartkowski), 10:08. 7, Iowa, Boldy 3 14:41. 8, Grand Rapids, Hirose 4 (Criscuolo, Barber), 17:12. 9, Grand Rapids, Turgeon 3 (Smith, Elson), 19:18. Penalties-Criscuolo Gr (hooking), 0:32; Pearson Gr (tripping), 5:12.

Shots on Goal-Iowa 10-8-15-33. Grand Rapids 13-10-10-33.

Power Play Opportunities-Iowa 0 / 3; Grand Rapids 0 / 2.

Goalies-Iowa, Jones 4-8-1 (33 shots-28 saves). Grand Rapids, Boyle 5-2-1 (33 shots-29 saves).

A-750

Three Stars
1. GR Turgeon (game-winning goal); 2. GR Hirose (game-tying goal). 3. IA Mayhew (goal, assist)

Record / Next Game
Grand Rapids: 9-6-2-0 (20 pts.) / Sat., April 17 vs. Iowa 7 p.m.
Iowa: 10-10-4-0 (24 pts.) / Sat., April 17 at Grand Rapids 6 p.m. CDT

Photo by Nicolas Carrillo/Griffins