March 16, 2022

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Grand Rapids Griffins withstood a late comeback from the Texas Stars, winning 5-4 in overtime courtesy of Turner Elson’s game-winner on Wednesday at Van Andel Arena. Elson’s tally six seconds into the extra frame was the fastest goal to start any period in Griffins’ history, for or against.

Grand Rapids pushed its home point streak to seven games against the Stars (6-0-1-0). Elson’s game-winner tied his own streak of consecutive outings with a goal this season, with four tallies. Ryan Murphy also tied the longest assist streak this year (4), joining Kyle Criscuolo and Jonatan Berggren. Elson (1-1—2), Dennis Yan (1-1—2), Josh Dickinson (1-2—3), and Dominick Shine (1-1—2) all registered multi-point outings.

Grand Rapids broke the scoreless tie early in the opening period. After a scramble for the puck in front of the net, Yan at the left post gathered the disc and placed it past netminder Matt Jurusik at 2:58.

With 10:39 remaining in the first, Brett McKenzie notched his 50^th goal as a pro when he backhanded the puck through the five-hole, giving the Griffins a 2-0 lead.

Texas quickly erased its deficit with two tallies in the span on nine seconds, which was the fastest consecutive goals given up this season by Grand Rapids. Just below the blue line, Joel L’Esperance fired the rubber through traffic and past the glove of Calvin Pickard at 14:23. Alex Petrovic made it a tie game at 14:32 with his shot from the right circle that zipped into the left corner.

The Griffins took a 3-2 lead at 8:09 in the middle period. During a Texas power play, Elson at the left boards, stole the disc in the Stars’ zone and sent it across the ice to a streaking Shine. From the right wing, the forward fired a one-timer past Jurusik.

Grand Rapids regained its two-goal advantage in the final stanza with 13:51 remaining. Yan from behind the net fed the puck to Dickinson in the slot. Dickinson then managed to slip the puck past the glove of Jurusik.

At 11:41, Stars’ Anthony Louis sent the rubber across the ice to Ryan Shea at the right wing. Shea ripped the disc past the glove of Pickard to cut the deficit to one.

With 3:08 remaining in the contest, Josh Melnick deflected the puck into the left corner to force overtime.

Right off the faceoff in the extra frame, Grand Rapids gained possession and scored just six seconds in. From the right boards, Murphy connected with a bolting Elson in the slot. The team-leading goal scorer sent a wrister past the netminder’s stick, giving the Griffins a 5-4 overtime victory.

With three OT tallies apiece, Elson and Berggren have tied Grand Rapids’ single-season record (Andy Miele in 2014-15 and Kevin Miller in 2003-04) and sit one shy of the career mark shared by Miele and Jiri Hudler.

Notes

• Three out of the five games this season against Texas have gone into overtime.
• Elson has now scored overtime winners in back-to-back contests.
• Pickard has won three straight games and improved to 21-14-5 this campaign.

Box Score

Texas 2 0 2 0 - 4
Grand Rapids 2 1 1 1 - 5

1st Period-1, Grand Rapids, Yan 8 (Dickinson, Curry), 2:58. 2, Grand Rapids, McKenzie 4 (Martin, Shine), 9:21. 3, Texas, L’Esperance 21 (Gleason, McKenzie), 14:23 (PP). 4, Texas, Petrovic 3 (Melnick, Damiani), 14:32. Penalties-Murphy Gr (holding), 13:21.

2nd Period-5, Grand Rapids, Shine 7 (Elson), 8:09 (SH). Penalties-Barber Gr (closing hand on puck), 7:51.

3rd Period-6, Grand Rapids, Dickinson 3 (Yan), 6:09. 7, Texas, Shea 2 (Louis, L’Esperance), 11:41. 8, Texas, Melnick 8 (Gleason, Kero), 16:52. Penalties-No Penalties

OT Period-9, Grand Rapids, Elson 17 (Murphy, Dickinson), 0:06. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Texas 11-10-7-0-28. Grand Rapids 13-11-7-1-32.
Power Play Opportunities-Texas 1 / 2; Grand Rapids 0 / 0.
Goalies-Texas, Jurusik 8-5-4 (32 shots-27 saves). Grand Rapids, Pickard 21-14-5 (28 shots-24 saves).
A-4,712

Three Stars
1. GR Elson (overtime goal, assist); 2. GR Dickinson (goal, two assists); 3. TEX Melnick (goal, assist)

Record / Next Game
Grand Rapids: 26-23-5-2 (59 pts.) / Fri., March 18 vs. Texas 7 p.m.
Texas: 21-23-6-5 (53 pts.) / Fri., March 18 at Grand Rapids 6 p.m. CDT

Photo by Nicolas Carrillo/Griffins