CLEVELAND -- The Grand Rapids Griffins fell to the Cleveland Monsters 4-3 in a shootout at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Wednesday. Tim Gettinger scored two goals in the contest, one of which came with less than a second remaining in regulation to propel the Griffins to both overtime and their first road point of the season.

With 25 saves tonight, Sebastian Cossa improved to a .923 save percentage and a 2.50 goals against average over four games. In his return from Detroit, Jonatan Berggren recorded his 50th AHL assist, which extended his point streak to three games.

Berggren sent a pass to Gettinger, who lifted the puck past Jet Greaves on the doorstep to open the scoring for Grand Rapids at 6:53. With 3:30 remaining in the first period, the Monsters had a 3-on-1 breakaway, which led to Trey Fix-Wolansky burying a shot behind the pad of Cossa from the crease to tie the game.

Cleveland took the lead with a gloveside power-play goal from the bottom of the left circle, courtesy of Yegor Chinakhov at 7:26 in the second frame. Simon Edvinsson snuck a sharp-angle snipe in shortside from the bottom of the left circle to tie the game at 2-2 at 16:51. Just over a minute later, Chinakhov struck again, this time from the top of the left circle on the power play to restore the Monsters’ lead at 18:20. Grand Rapids received a season high of five penalties in a single period in the second, whereas the Monsters did not receive any.

With under one second remaining in the game, Gettinger picked up his second tally of the night in clutch fashion, scoring from the slot to tie the game at 3-3 and force overtime. A thrilling extra frame where the Griffins outshot the Monsters 6-1 did not solve the tie, pushing the game to a shootout.

The Griffins took the early lead in the shootout with a goal from Elmer Soderblom in the first round. The Monsters evened the score in the second round while Greaves made a stunning save. Mikael Pyyhtia gave Cleveland the win, scoring the shootout-winner.

Notes
- Dominik Shine surpassed Francis Pare to move into fifth place on the Griffins’ all-time games played list while tying Michel Picard for fourth place with 364.

- The shootout loss extends the Griffins’ losing streak to five games (0-3-1-1).

Box Score
Grand Rapids 1 1 1 0 - 3
Cleveland 1 2 0 0 - 4

1st Period-1, Grand Rapids, Gettinger 3 (Berggren), 6:53. 2, Cleveland, Fix-Wolansky 3 (Chinakhov, Christiansen), 16:27. Penalties-Ceulemans Cle (hooking), 7:20.
2nd Period-3, Cleveland, Chinakhov 2 (Blankenburg, Fix-Wolansky), 7:26 (PP). 4, Grand Rapids, Edvinsson 3 (Lombardi, Soderblom), 16:48. 5, Cleveland, Chinakhov 3 (Blankenburg, Fix-Wolansky), 18:20 (PP). Penalties-Wallinder Gr (tripping), 6:59; Hirose Gr (holding), 9:54; Gettinger Gr (hooking), 12:59; Didier Gr (interference), 17:22; Mazur Gr (interference), 19:55.
3rd Period-6, Grand Rapids, Gettinger 4 20:00 (PP). Penalties-Angle Cle (slashing), 19:05.
OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties
Shootout - Grand Rapids 1 (Soderblom G, Hirose NG, Berggren NG), Cleveland 2 (Fix-Wolansky NG, Chinakhov G, Pyyhtia G).

Shots on Goal-Grand Rapids 13-5-13-7-0-38. Cleveland 7-15-5-1-1-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Grand Rapids 1 / 2; Cleveland 2 / 5.
Goalies-Grand Rapids, Cossa 1-1-2 (28 shots-25 saves). Cleveland, Greaves 5-1-0 (38 shots-35 saves).
A-5,143

Three Stars
1. CLE Chinakhov (two goals, assist; 2. CLE Fix-Wolansky (one goal, two assists); 3. CLE Nick Blankenburg (two assists)

Record / Next Game
Grand Rapids: 2-3-1-1 (6 pts.) / Sat., Nov. 4 at Milwaukee 7 p.m.
Cleveland: 5-2-0-0 (10 pts.) / Fri., Nov. 3 vs Providence 7 p.m. EDT

Photo by Cleveland Monsters