SYRACUSE, N.Y. – A brilliant effort from Jimmy Howard and proficient penalty killing keyed the Grand Rapids Griffins’ 2-1 victory over the Syracuse Crunch Saturday at the Onondaga County War Memorial at Oncenter.

The win nudges Grand Rapids (15-18-2-3), currently fourth place in the North Division, within three points of third-place Syracuse (18-20-1-1) with two games in hand. The Griffins next take the ice Wednesday, hitting the road to face the Quad City Flames at 8:05 EST.

Syracuse lit the lamp on its first shot of the night when Adam Pineault converted a give-and-go with Derek MacKenzie 2:56 into the contest. Howard, however, refused every one of the subsequent 31 shots he faced.

Oddly enough, both teams created several scoring opportunities while a man down throughout the opening period, and Grand Rapids finally broke through with its second shorthanded goal of the season at 15:46. Darren Helm, charging hard through the left wing, led a two-on-one break and dropped a last-second pass to Ryan Oulahen, who filled the cage from Karl Goehring’s doorstep.

Just eight seconds after Grand Rapids wrapped up its fifth successful penalty kill of the contest, Carl Corazzini found Mattias Ritola for a quick strike from the right circle, snatching a 2-1 lead for the Griffins at 12:46 of the second period.

Goehring helped keep Syracuse within striking distance by making multiple crucial saves when the Griffins were awarded a 31-second five-on-three opportunity early in the final frame. Grand Rapids, however, staved off three Crunch power plays in the ensuing minutes and withstood a frantic last-minute comeback attempt when Goehring was pulled for the extra attacker.

Tensions ran high throughout the physical game, culminating in fisticuffs between Howard and Zenon Konopka as the final horn sounded. Howard was charged with slashing and Konopka with roughing at 20:00. In addition, both players were assessed a 10-minute misconduct penalty.

The Griffins’ penalty killing unit stymied all eight of Syracuse’s power play chances, highlighted by Oulahen’s first-period shorthanded tally.

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