Iowa Wild 3 at GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 4 SO

Dec. 13, 2017

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – If it’s all the same to the AHL’s schedule maker, the Iowa Wild would probably prefer to never again play the Grand Rapids Griffins on Dec. 13.

Exactly two years after coming back from a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3 in overtime at Iowa, the Griffins replicated the Wild feat on home ice on Wednesday, rallying from three goals down to claim a 4-3 shootout win.

Ben Street scored the Griffins’ second and third goals to force overtime then notched the only shootout tally, while Jared Coreau turned aside the last 18 shots he faced to enable the comeback and help Grand Rapids (10-13-0-3) snap a three-game skid.

The Griffins will continue their three-game homestand on Friday when the Chicago Wolves pay a 7 p.m. visit.

The Wild, who have won just two of their last 12 visits to Van Andel Arena, needed less than five minutes to take the upper hand. Sam Anas led a 2-on-1 into the Grand Rapids zone, carrying the puck down the left side before taking a shot at the faceoff dot that slipped through Coreau’s five-hole at 4:58.

Less than two minutes later, Zach Nastasiuk appeared to have scored his second goal in as many games since being called up from Toledo when he put a shot from the left circle inside the near post at 6:42. But the goal was negated due to incidental contact with the goaltender, as Dan Renouf and Wild defenseman Hunter Warner had stumbled into Niklas Svedberg a few seconds before Nastasiuk’s shot, knocking the goalie to the ice and out of position.

Iowa (12-8-5-1) benefited from an incredibly fortunate bounce in seizing a two-goal lead at 14:09. Robbie Russo’s pass from the right corner hit referee Stephen Thomson along the end boards and caromed out into the slot to an unmarked Justin Kloos, who immediately found former Ferris State Bulldog Gerald Mayhew at the right post for a backdoor tap-in that put a bow on the Wild’s early Christmas gift.

Kloos earned his third point and first goal of the night during a power play 2:17 into the second, backhanding home a rebound from the slot to make it a 3-0 contest.

The Griffins finally scored one that counted at the 7:30 mark, as a speeding Brian Lashoff took a pass from Eric Tangradi at the Iowa blue line and snapped a shot from the left circle that found the far corner of Svedberg’s net. Street then cut the visitors’ advantage to one with 3:25 remaining in the period, pouncing on a puck between the circles and popping it through the netminder’s pads.

Grand Rapids pulled even during a 5-on-3 power play 7:15 into the third period, when Street one-timed a feed from Matt Ford over Svedberg’s glove from high in the right circle. While the Griffins could not manage the go-ahead goal during 1:40 of the subsequent 5-on-4 advantage, Coreau came up huge on the other end, preserving the tie by denying a pair of prime shorthanded chances for the Wild.

The game eventually progressed to overtime, which the Griffins dominated to the tune of a 6-0 advantage in shots and extended time in the Wild’s zone. However, the most significant and strangest turn of events occurred during an Iowa breakaway, when an indecisive Luke Kunin had an abundance of time and space while closing in on Coreau but never pulled the trigger, and instead failed to connect on a backdoor pass to Christoph Bertschy.

In the shootout, Street connected in round two after Lashoff was denied in round one, ripping a shot below Svedberg’s blocker, while Coreau thwarted Anas, Ryan Malone and Kloos in succession to secure the victory.

The Griffins outshot the Wild 44-28 on the night, with Coreau making 25 saves and Svedberg countering with 40.

Notes: The Griffins played their second straight game without injured forwards Matt Puempel and Matt Lorito, their top two point producers, while No. 4 scorer Turner Elson missed his fourth straight game due to illness.

Three Stars: 1. GR Street (two goals, shootout winner); 2. IA Kloos (power play goal, two assists); 3. GR Ford (two assists)