CLEVELAND – Ryan Oulahen scored the game-winning goal with just 2:55 remaining and Jimmy Howard made 28 saves, propelling the Grand Rapids Griffins to a 3-2 victory over the Lake Erie Monsters Saturday night at the Quicken Loans Arena.

Head coach Mike Stothers earned his first win behind the Griffins’ bench and became the fourth coach in team history to prove victorious in his debut (Dave Allison in 1996, Guy Charron in 1998 and Bruce Cassidy in 2000). The win also improves Grand Rapids’ season opening record to 9-2-1-0.

The Griffins will continue their three-game road trip on Thursday in Manitoba as they battle the Moose at 8:30 p.m. EST.

Following a scoreless first period, the Griffins opened the scoring just 1:18 into the second. Mark Cullen jammed the puck in from the goal mouth past Jose Theodore, who was making a rehab start on assignment from the Colorado Avalanche, off assists from Johan Ryno and Carl Corazzini.

Lake Erie kept the pressure on during the middle frame, but Howard remained solid in net making several great saves including a breakaway and keeping the score 1-0 in favor of Grand Rapids.

The Monsters came out strong in the third and stole a 2-1 lead shortly into the period. Former Griffin Matt Hussey notched the equalizer at 1:12 when he sped into the zone and slid the puck between Howard’s pads, before Kyle Cumiskey snapped a shot inside the left goal post at 5:56 from the top of the left circle during a power play.

Grand Rapids battled back to tie the game as Jonathan Ericsson took a pass from Tom Galvin and launched a rocket past Theodore from the high slot at 11:13.

With overtime looming, Oulahen scored the go-ahead goal for the Griffins by popping the puck in from the doorstep off a backhand feed from Cullen with just 2:55 remaining.

Howard was stellar during the season debut making 28 saves while Theodore managed 21 during his rehab start for the Monsters.

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