CLEVELAND -- With a 5-2 victory over the Cleveland Monsters on Thursday at Rocket Arena, the Grand Rapids Griffins clinched their eighth-overall division title in the franchise’s 30-year history, and their first since 2014-15. 

The title marks the Griffins’ sixth as a member of the AHL, and their second-earliest title in franchise history (2002-03, Central — March 9).Wojciech Stachowiak (1-2—3) notched his first points with Grand Rapids, and Eduards Tralmaks bagged the game-winner for his 21st of the season. In his 100th game as a Griffin, Carter Mazur potted two goals, while Axel Sandin-Pellikka tallied his first assist of the season. Carter Gylander (7-0-1) extended his AHL win streak to seven games and tallied 28 saves.

At 5:31 of the opening frame, Gylander scooped up a point-blank attempt from Owen Sillinger to prevent the Monsters from getting on the board. With 11:20 remaining, Gabriel Seger grabbed a rebound shot in the slot and fired it at Ivan Fedotov, but failed to convert, leaving the frame scoreless. 

The Monsters lit the lamp 1:46 into the second period when Luca Pinelli buried one past the glove of Gylander on an odd-man rush. While on a two-man advantage, Sandin-Pellikka fired the puck toward Fedotov, it bounced out to Sheldon Dries, who tapped it to Mazur on the doorstep, and he knocked it in at 4:16. Luca Marrelli ripped one from the left dot while playing 5-on-3, and Cleveland reclaimed its one-goal advantage with 89 seconds left, but with one second to spare on a 4-on-1, Mazur tucked a loose puck in on the doorstep to tie the contest.

Grand Rapids claimed its first lead two minutes into the final slate when Jakub Rychlovsky fed the puck to Tralmaks, and he jammed it in from the backdoor. Stachowiak fired a wrister over Fedotov’s glove from the right circle 2:23 later to extend the Griffins’ lead to two, and with 5:12 on the clock, Shai Buium rocketed a one-timer from the blue line to grab a 5-2 lead and an ultimate victory.

Notes

• The Griffins improved to 45-13-4-1 with 95 points through 63 games and now hold a 22-6-1-1 ledger on the road.

Box Score

Grand Rapids 0 2 3 - 5

Cleveland 0 2 0 - 2

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Fasching Cle (high-sticking), 13:34.

2nd Period-1, Cleveland, Pinelli 12 (Pyyhtiä, MacDonald), 1:46. 2, Grand Rapids, Mazur 10 (Dries, Sandin-Pellikka), 4:16 (PP). 3, Cleveland, Marrelli 3 (Williams, Del Bel Belluz), 18:31 (PP). 4, Grand Rapids, Mazur 11 (Stachowiak, Lagesson), 19:59. Penalties-Butcher Cle (hooking), 2:34; Ceulemans Cle (delay of game), 3:27; Milne Gr (holding), 6:37; MacDonald Cle (cross-checking), 16:24; Gustafsson Gr (slashing), 16:43; Leonard Gr (slashing), 17:49.

3rd Period-5, Grand Rapids, Tralmaks 21 (Rychlovský, Stachowiak), 2:00. 6, Grand Rapids, Stachowiak 10 (Tralmaks, Rychlovský), 4:23. 7, Grand Rapids, Buium 3 (Watson, Seger), 14:48. Penalties-Mazur Gr (interference), 5:38; Ceulemans Cle (elbowing), 8:20.

Shots on Goal-Grand Rapids 4-14-6-24. Cleveland 10-9-11-30.

Power Play Opportunities-Grand Rapids 1 / 5; Cleveland 1 / 4.

Goalies-Grand Rapids, Gylander 7-0-1 (30 shots-28 saves). Cleveland, Fedotov 22-15-4 (24 shots-19 saves).

A-8,522

Three Stars

1. GR Mazur (two goals) 2. GR Tralmaks (game-winner, assist) 3. GR Stachowiak (goal, two assists)

Record/Next Game

Grand Rapids: 45-13-4-1 (95 pts.) / Sat., March 28 vs. Chicago 7 p.m.

Cleveland: 33-23-6-1 (73 pts.) / Sat., March 28 vs. Utica 7 p.m.

Photo by Nicolas Carrillo/Griffins