March 31, 2019

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Two goals within a 76-second span of the middle period provided the Milwaukee Admirals with all the offense they needed on Sunday, as they improved their playoff odds with a 3-1 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins before a capacity crowd of 10,834 at Van Andel Arena.

Now 6-0-1-1 in their last eight outings, the Admirals (31-24-13-2, 77 points) are tied with Texas for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Central Division, with one game in-hand over the Stars. Meanwhile, a Griffins unit decimated by callups dropped its third game of the weekend and fell to 0-3-1-0 in its last four home games after starting 22-5-2-3 within friendly confines, missing out on a chance to clinch a Calder Cup Playoff berth in light of Rockford’s 5-2 loss at Chicago.

The second-place Griffins (38-22-6-4, 86 points), who are six points behind Chicago and six ahead of third-place Iowa, maintain a magic number of four points for clinching a seventh consecutive postseason bid. They’ll look to rekindle the spark of their recent 5-1 road trip as they hop a plane to California for their next three games, beginning with Wednesday’s first-ever visit to the Ontario Reign at 10 p.m. EDT.

Following a scoreless first period in which the Admirals held an 8-7 edge in shots, Colin Blackwell had a prime scoring chance midway through the second when he led a 2-on-0 rush into the Griffins’ zone off a center-ice turnover, but he lost control of the puck on the doorstep and never put a shot on Patrik Rybar. Minutes later, during a Grand Rapids power play, Rybar robbed Joe Pendenza with his glove to thwart the Admirals’ bid to cash in on a shorthanded 2-on-1 break.

Blackwell finally gave Milwaukee the afternoon’s first goal with 5:07 left in the period. Just seven seconds into an Admirals power play, he finished off a scramble around the Griffins’ net by corralling an Adam Helewka pass at the top of the crease and poking the puck across the line. Miika Salomaki then made it a 2-0 game in short order, slipping a shot under Rybar’s right pad from the right hashmarks at 16:09.

Troy Grosenick ensured that the visitors held their two-goal advantage into the intermission by making a point-blank save on Matthew Ford while sitting on the ice during a Griffins power play with 30 seconds left in the frame.

Grand Rapids had better luck on the other side of that power play to cut its deficit in half. Forty-eight seconds into the third, Turner Elson hammered a shot from the bottom of the right circle that ricocheted off Jarred Tinordi and inside the near post, a goal made possible by Chris Terry’s perfectly threaded pass from the left boards. With the assist, Terry became just the 96th player all time and seventh active player to reach the 500-point plateau for his AHL career, an achievement that was recognized over the public address system at the next stoppage in play.

During a late power play, the Griffins lost Filip Zadina for the duration after he was crushed by Tinordi while carrying the puck into the Milwaukee zone, and Grand Rapids subsequently lost that power play when Joe Hicketts was sent off for unsportsmanlike conduct. Terry nearly tied the score with 55 seconds left, as his one-timer from above the right circle hit traffic and bounced just to the right of the near post, before Cole Schneider put a shot into an empty-net during a power play at 19:22 for the final margin.

Rybar stopped 25 of 27 while playing his third game in as many nights, while Grosenick earned first star honors behind 29 saves. The Griffins and Admirals went 1-for-5 and 2-for-6, respectively, on the power play.

Notes: Seven members of Grand Rapids’ projected playoff roster are currently with the Detroit Red Wings, including forwards Christoffer Ehn, Martin Frk, Matt Puempel and Dominic Turgeon, and defensemen Jake Chelios, Filip Hronek and Dylan McIlrath…The sellout was the Griffins’ seventh of the season and sixth since New Year’s Eve…A total of 404 canines were in attendance for the annual Jake Engle Memorial Dog Game.

Three Stars: 1. MIL Grosenick (W, 29 saves); 2. MIL Salomaki (game-winning goal); 3. GR Terry (assist, 500th AHL point)

Photo by Mark Newman/Griffins