Dec. 19, 2018

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins, whose last loss in regulation at Van Andel Arena came six days before Thanksgiving, saw their eight-game home point streak snapped six days before Christmas, as the Cleveland Monsters proved to be Grinches on Wednesday by taking a 3-1 victory in front of 8,182 fans.

Grand Rapids seized an early 1-0 advantage before its former Central Division rival scored twice within a 2:33 span of the middle period then tacked on a late empty-netter. The result spoiled another strong outing by Patrik Rybar, who suffered just his second home loss of the season while turning away 29 of 31 shots en route to Third Star honors.

Thanks in large part to the Griffins’ 6-0-1-1 streak at home that ran from Nov. 17 to Dec. 15, their impressive pre-Christmas home record of 10-3-1-2 (0.719) ranks as the eighth-best out of their 23 seasons.

Grand Rapids, now 15-11-2-2 overall, will travel to Winnipeg for a two-game set against the Manitoba Moose this Friday and Saturday before enjoying a three-day break for Christmas. Game time on Friday is 8 p.m. EST.

Despite being outshot 10-6 during the opening period it was Grand Rapids that went to the locker room with the lead, courtesy of David Pope’s goal at the 13:59 mark. After working with Dominic Turgeon to gain control of the puck in the left corner, Pope took a pass from Turgeon along the goal line, skated to the crease and popped a backhand past Jean-Francois Berube for his second goal of the season.

The Monsters pulled even on a power play goal 6:20 into the second, capitalizing on their only chance of the night. During an extended shift in the Griffins’ end that saw Libor Sulak fight off a painful blocked shot and Derek Hulak forced to scramble without his broken stick, Kole Sherwood planted himself outside the crease and batted a rebound off the right post and into the net.

Cleveland (14-10-4-0) took the upper hand in short order. Off a Monsters faceoff win in the left circle, Doyle Somerby launched a wrister from the left point that snuck through traffic at 8:53.

Still down 2-1 late in the third period, the Griffins came tantalizingly close to tying it. As Rybar headed to the bench for an extra skater with two minutes left, Chris Terry, the AHL’s leading goal scorer with 18, rang a shot off the crossbar from the left circle, and seconds later the puck trickled just past the right post after he shot it into a goalmouth scrum from the right side.

Zac Dalpe provided the final margin with 48 seconds remaining, sending the puck three-quarters the length of the ice into the vacated net.

Berube made 22 saves for the Monsters, who during the offseason moved conferences from the Western to the Eastern. He was key to a Cleveland penalty kill that denied all four power play chances for the Griffins.

Three Stars: 1. CLE Somerby (game-winning goal); 2. CLE Alex Broadhurst (two assists); 3. GR Rybar (L, 29 saves)

Photo by Sam Iannamico/Griffins