Nov. 7, 2010 - GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 4 at Lake Erie Monsters 3 SO

CLEVELAND – The Grand Rapids Griffins slipped past the Lake Erie Monsters 4-3 in a shootout victory Sunday evening at the Quicken Loans Arena to complete a three-in-three weekend and kick off an eight-game season series against their North Division rival.

The Griffins return home on Wednesday, Nov. 10 to welcome the Milwaukee Admirals in their 10th annual matinee contest at Noon.

Following a scoreless opening period during which Grand Rapids (7-3-0-2) killed off four Lake Erie (5-5-1-2) power plays, Logan Pyett put the Griffins on the board at 1:51 of the second by blasting a shot past Jason Bacashihua from just inside the blue line during a power play. Curtis Fraser quickly responded with a goal for Lake Erie at 3:12 on a hand off from Zach Cohen.

Grand Rapids pulled ahead 2-1 when Jamie Tardif fed the puck to Francis Pare, who fired off a fourty-footer from the right wing that found the back of the net at 18:02 in the second.

Chris Minard extended the Griffins' lead less than two minutes into the third period with an unassisted goal. Success was short lived when Fraser tallied his second goal for the Monsters at 10:39 on assists from Patrick Bordeleau and Cohen, who claimed his second assist of the night.

The Monsters evened the score 3-3 at 16:28 in the third, as Joel Chouinard launched a quick shot past Jordan Pearce just inside the right goal post to send the game into overtime.

Just 52 seconds into overtime, Pearce denied Brandon Rogers on a penalty shot to keep the Griffins alive and ultimately force a shootout.

Grand Rapids and Lake Erie battled into seven rounds, where Tomas Tatar tallied the deciding goal. Jan Mursak and Ilari Filppula also lit the lamp during the dual, while Pearce stopped five of seven Lake Erie chances and finished the night with 37 saves.

Bacashihua has 18 saves and went four-for-seven in the shootout for Lake Erie.

Three Stars: 1. GR Tatar (GW goal); 2. GR Pearce (37 saves); 3. LE Fraser (2 goals)