GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 4 AT Lake Erie Monsters 5

Nov. 21, 2014

CLEVELAND- A goaltending change at the end of the first period proved to provide the spark the Lake Erie Monsters needed as they climbed back from a 3-1 deficit after 20 minutes to top the Grand Rapids Griffins 5-4 Friday at Quicken Loans Arena.

The penalty kill was one of the strengths of the Griffins this season as they entered tonight’s contest with the best penalty kill percentage in the league. The Griffins surrendered four goals on 51 penalty kill opportunities entering Friday’s contest and Lake Erie scored twice on five chances.

It was the Griffins who got out front early as Stephen Weiss fired a wrist shot near the top of the circle his first of the season 19 seconds after the opening puck drop. Lake Erie evened the contest at 4:03 on the power play when Borna Rendulic took the puck from Michael Schumacher in the right corner and put it past Griffins goalie Tom McCollum after skating tough Grand Rapids defenders for his third goal of the season.

Grand Rapids would retake the lead at 11:16 when Teemu Pulkkinen blocked a pass at the Lake Erie blue line and a few strides later scored his first of the night past Lake Erie starter Roman Will. The Griffins increased their lead to two when Nick Jensen lit the lamp for the first time this season after sending a 1-timer from Nathan Paetsch through traffic past Will at 15:14.

After the first period, Will was pulled in favor of Sami Aittokallio. Will finished the game with three goals allowed on 10 shots.

The second period remained scoreless until Markus Lauridsen scored his second of the season with less than a second left in the middle frame. The Monsters took advantage of an Andy Miele cross-checking penalty while in front of Aittokallio with 17 seconds left in the period. Lake Erie won the draw inside the Grand Rapids zone with 5 seconds left and Stefan Elliott fed Lauridsen the pass that left the home team trailing by one heading back to the locker room.

The Griffins (6-7-1-0) would go ahead by two goals for the second time when Pulkkinen scored his second of the night and eighth of the season on his Finnish countryman. Aittokallo had stoned Pulkkinen twice at close range on the previous rush but it was Pulkkinen who got the goal at 6:59 on a breakaway with an assist from McCollum.

The Monsters countered the Griffins goal 34 seconds later when Kenny Ryan deflected a shot from defenseman Karl Stollery past McCollum for his first of the night at 7:33.

Rendulic equaled the game at 4-4 at 17:02 when he outskated a Griffins defender and netted a shot inside the top corner over the blocker of McCollum. Lake Erie went on to score the game winner 57 seconds later when Duncan Siemens fired a shot from the right point that went through traffic and off the stick of Ryan into the net to complete the comeback.

Lake Erie (5-7-1-2) snapped a five-game losing streak with the win. Aittokallo earned the win with 14 saves on 15 shots. McCollum turned away 28 of 33 shots in the loss and dropped his season record to 5-4-1 in the process.

The two teams will meet at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich. for a rematch Saturday night at 7 p.m. EST.

Notes: Following the game, the Griffins released goaltender Jeff Lerg from his professional tryout…Tonight was the first regulation loss for Grand Rapids when leading after the first and second periods… They were previously 3-0-1-0 when leading after the first period and were 4-0-0-0 when leading after 40 minutes.

Three Stars: 1. LE Siemens (Assist), 2. LE Rendulic (2 goals), 3. GR Pulkkinen (2 goals)