April 19, 2022

DES MOINES, Iowa -The Iowa Wild defeated the Grand Rapids Griffins 5-2 courtesy of Nick Swaney’s four-point outing on Tuesday at Wells Fargo Arena. The Griffins dropped the final season meeting against the Wild and ended the series with a 5-3-0-0 record.

Jonatan Berggren notched his 19th goal of the season, which tied him with Eric Himelfarb for the 10th most tallies for a Griffins rookie. Berggren also moved into a tie for third place with Glen Metropolit (1997-98) for the most points by a Griffins rookie in a single season with 55 (19-36—55). Taro Hirose recorded his 36th assist on the campaign, tying Berggren for the team lead. Kyle Criscuolo tallied his third goal in just as many games, which extended his point streak (3-2—5) to three outings.

Iowa opened the scoring at 7:29 in first period. In Grand Rapids’ zone, Swaney stole the puck at the goal mouth from Dan Renouf and sent it under the crossbar. This marked the 11th straight contest that the Griffins allowed their opponent to tally the game’s first goal.

The Wild added to their lead, scoring two unanswered in the middle frame. At 13:48, Iowa took a 2-0 advantage when Marco Rossi in the low slot, fought off traffic to get to the rebound and placed the puck in the right corner. Kyle Rau skated along the right boards and sent the disc toward the net that went in the left corner after it was deflected off Wyatt Newpower’s skate with 3:39 remaining in the second.

Grand Rapids notched its first tally of the evening with 17 seconds remaining in the period. On a power play, Hirose connected with Berggren at the right circle. The rookie then snapped a one-timer through the five-hole and extended his point streak to six games (4-6—10).

At 2:17 in the final stanza, Criscuolo from the left wing smashed the rubber into the left corner, making it a 3-2 game in favor of the Wild.

Shortly after cutting their deficit to one, the Griffins were forced to kill off a 5-on-3 penalty for 1:36. Grand Rapids did just that and finished the game 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.

With 7:33 remaining in the contest, Mason Shaw gathered a rebound in the slot and ripped it past Victor Brattstrom’s glove after Swaney’s initial attempt was stopped by the netminder.

Grand Rapids tried to tie the game when it took Brattstrom off for an extra skater at 19:03. Iowa closed the door with 28 seconds remaining when Rau stole the puck from Grand Rapids and connected with Swaney. Swaney converted on the empty net and handed the Wild a 5-2 victory.

Notes

• Jan Drozg appeared in his 100th game in the AHL.

• The Griffins have won two games in their last nine contests away from West Michigan, having been outscored 41-25.

• Since being reassigned by Detroit on April 12, Hirose has six points (1-5—6) in five games.

Box Score
Grand Rapids 0 1 1 - 2
Iowa 1 2 2 - 5

1st Period-1, Iowa, Swaney 14 7:29. Penalties-Rau Ia (hooking), 9:20; Dickinson Gr (slashing), 10:07; Berggren Gr (roughing), 19:03.

2nd Period-2, Iowa, Rossi 18 (Ottenbreit, Swaney), 13:48. 3, Iowa, Rau 22 (Shaw, Czuczman), 16:21. 4, Grand Rapids, Berggren 19 (Hirose, Criscuolo), 19:43 (PP). Penalties-Stevens Ia (slashing), 18:33.

3rd Period-5, Grand Rapids, Criscuolo 15 (Yan, Dickinson), 2:17. 6, Iowa, Shaw 18 (Swaney, Addison), 12:27. 7, Iowa, Swaney 15 (Rau, Shaw), 19:32 (EN). Penalties-Lashoff Gr (slashing), 6:35; Elson Gr (delay of game), 6:59; Ghafari Gr (slashing), 11:21; served by Gervais Ia (bench minor - too many men), 11:21; Shine Gr (unsportsmanlike conduct, misconduct - unsportsmanlike conduct), 12:59; Mermis Ia (unsportsmanlike conduct, misconduct - unsportsmanlike conduct), 12:59; Berggren Gr (cross-checking), 16:46; Criscuolo Gr (roughing), 18:04; Rossi Ia (roughing), 18:04.

Shots on Goal-Grand Rapids 7-10-13-30. Iowa 6-13-9-28.
Power Play Opportunities-Grand Rapids 1 / 2; Iowa 0 / 5.
Goalies-Grand Rapids, Brattstrom 9-15-3 (27 shots-23 saves). Iowa, McIntyre 20-12-3 (30 shots-28 saves).
A-3,723

Three Stars
1. IA Swaney (two goals, two assists); 2. IA Shaw (goal, two assists); 3. IA Rossi (goal)

Record / Next Game
Grand Rapids: 31-32-6-2 (70 pts.) / Wed., April 20 at Rockford 8 p.m. EDT
Iowa: 31-28-4-5 (71 pts.) / Fri., April 22 at Texas 7 p.m. CDT

Photo by Tim Garland/Iowa Wild