Manitoba Moose 1 at GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 5

March 12, 2016

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Behind 32 saves by Tom McCollum, the Grand Rapids Griffins completed a weekend sweep of the Manitoba Moose on Saturday with a 5-1 win at a sold-out Van Andel Arena, moving within .003 percentage points of first place in the Central Division with their 10th consecutive victory.

Eric Tangradi chipped in a goal and an assist to finish the two-game set against Manitoba with seven points (3-4—7), while Andy Miele had two helpers to give him six points (1-5—6) over the last two nights.

Combined with their 15-game run earlier this season, the Griffins have become the first AHL team since the 2009-10 Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears to post a pair of double-digit winning streaks in the same season. And with first-place Rockford losing tonight, Grand Rapids (0.650) has climbed nearly even with the IceHogs (0.653) in the Central Division race while taking the lead over both Rockford and Milwaukee in terms of points (78 to 77).

With only four home games remaining over their final 16 contests, the Griffins will commence a five-game, 11-day road trip on Sunday with a 5 p.m. EDT start at Chicago, from which they’ll head to Texas for a pair of games each against the Texas Stars and San Antonio Rampage.

The Griffins’ penalty killers were put to an extended test less than four minutes into the game after Joel Rechlicz was whistled off on simultaneous roughing and cross-checking calls. Manitoba failed to capitalize on that four-minute opportunity, but the Moose did break through for the first goal at the 10:28 mark when Axel Blomqvist – who drew the penalties on Rechlicz – snapped a shot past McCollum from the right circle.

Grand Rapids revived its potent offense from Friday’s 7-2 win to score three times in a span of just over nine minutes, beginning with a power play goal by Tyler Bertuzzi off a feed from Tangradi with 2:49 remaining in the first period.

Anthony Mantha’s 20th goal of the season put the Griffins ahead only 51 seconds into the middle period. From deep in the right corner of his own zone, Robbie Russo threaded a perfect 120-foot stretch pass to Mantha, who broke in alone on Eric Comrie and managed two quick shots before sliding his third try just inside the right post.

The Griffins doubled their advantage on their second power play tally of the night at the 6:13 mark, as Martin Frk took a pass from Miele at the top of the circles and blasted a rising howitzer past Comrie for his team-high 23rd goal of the campaign.

Tangradi scored Grand Rapids’ fourth consecutive goal at 4:20 of the third to make it 4-1, showing quick hands on the doorstep to slip a rebound home, before Tomas Nosek added a shorthanded empty-netter at 16:16 for the final margin.

McCollum earned his fifth consecutive win since Feb. 20, a stretch during which his 1.00 goals against average and .967 save percentage are both the best marks in the AHL – one spot ahead of teammate Jared Coreau’s numbers (1.19, .956) over that span.

Comrie logged 26 saves for the Moose, who went 0-for-5 on the power play while allowing the Griffins to finish 2-for-5.

Notes: During their 10-game winning streak, the Griffins have outscored their opponents 41-11…Defenseman Dan Renouf made his pro debut after signing an amateur tryout with Grand Rapids on Thursday. He recently finished his season at the University of Maine…The capacity crowd of 10,834 was the Griffins’ fourth of the season as well as their eighth crowd in excess of 10,000, and it raised their average this season to 8,306.

Three Stars: 1. GR McCollum (W, 32 saves); 2. GR Tangradi (goal, assist); 3. GR Miele (two assists)