GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The Grand Rapids Griffins fell to the Toronto Marlies 7-3 at Van Andel Arena on Friday night. In the defeat, the Griffins’ home game point streak ended as it was their first home regulation loss of the year. The match saw a combined 145 penalty minutes including 10 game misconducts.

Tonight’s game saw a few milestones for the Griffins. Dominik Shine, who bagged an assist on Zach Aston-Reese’s first goal as a Griffin, moved into sole possession of third place on the Griffins’ all-time games played list with 366. Taro Hirose's assist on Tim Gettinger's goal tied Derek King for fifth place on the Griffins’ all-time assists list while Amadeus Lombardi scored his first professional goal.

Following a faceoff, Josiah Slavin opened scoring for the Marlies, as he slipped a shot past Sebastian Cossa’s glove from the bottom of the right circle at 7:15. With 3:38 remaining in the first period, a right-circle blast from Dmitry Ovchinnikov deflected off a Grand Rapids defender and slipped through the five hole for another Toronto tally. Despite a two-goal deficit, the Griffins held a 11-9 shot advantage.

The Griffins made the Marlies pay on the powerplay following a five-minute major for spearing. Brogan Rafferty snapped the puck off the post, which was collected by Gettinger on the doorstep and sent between the legs of Keith Petruzzelli for Grand Rapids’ first goal of the night with 12:56 remaining in the middle frame.

Shortly after the Griffins’ tally, Toronto regained its two-goal lead as Ovchinnikov scored his second of the night from the bottom of the right circle at 8:46. A tape-to-tape pass helped extend the Marlies’ lead when Nick Abruzzese received the puck on the doorstep and netted a fourth goal for Toronto.

Kieffer Bellows scored for the Marlies on a breakaway with 18:39 left in the game. The Griffins got a measure of revenge when Aston-Reese skated in and fired into the net at 14:11 to make it a 5-2 game. Lombardi cleaned up a rebound and slid it past Petruzzelli to put Grand Rapids within striking distance at 12:15.

With 1:28 remaining in the game, Alex Steeves raced down ice to score the empty-netter. The Griffins and Marlies highlighted the high-scoring affair with a few fights, resulting in nine game misconducts in the period for a total of 10 in the game. Following the fights, the Marlies added a seventh goal for an Ovchinnikov hat-trick.

Notes:
- Both Elmer Soderblom (1-2–3) and Lombardi (1-2–3) extended their point streaks to three games.

Box Score
Toronto 2 2 3 - 7
Grand Rapids 0 1 2 - 3

1st Period-1, Toronto, Slavin 2 (Suthers), 7:15. 2, Toronto, Ovchinnikov 1 (Abruzzese, Lajoie), 16:22. Penalties-Newpower Gr (tripping), 10:15; Bellows Tor (slashing), 11:52; Wallinder Gr (delay of game), 14:22; Clifford Tor (holding), 19:02.

2nd Period-3, Grand Rapids, Gettinger 5 (Rafferty, Hirose), 7:04 (PP). 4, Toronto, Ovchinnikov 2 (Abruzzese), 8:46. 5, Toronto, Abruzzese 3 (Steeves, Lajoie), 13:51. Penalties-Clifford Tor (major - spearing, game misconduct - spearing), 3:29; Solow Tor (tripping), 18:33.

3rd Period-6, Toronto, Bellows 3 (Blandisi), 1:21. 7, Grand Rapids, Aston-Reese 1 (Stevens, Shine), 5:49. 8, Grand Rapids, Lombardi 1 (Mazur, Soderblom), 12:15. 9, Toronto, Steeves 7 18:32 (EN). 10, Toronto, Ovchinnikov 3 (Lajoie, Niemelä), 19:36 (PP). Penalties-L’Esperance Gr (interference), 9:06; Mastrosimone Tor (boarding), 14:02; Hanas Gr (cross-checking), 14:02; Mastrosimone Tor (fighting, misconduct - continuing altercation), 19:21; Pietroniro Tor (misconduct - continuing altercation), 19:21; Slavin Tor (fighting, misconduct - continuing altercation), 19:21; Gr (game misconduct - abuse of officials), 19:21; Aston-Reese Gr (roughing, slashing, misconduct - continuing altercation), 19:21; Mazur Gr (misconduct - abuse of officials), 19:21; Newpower Gr (fighting, game misconduct - aggressor), 19:21; Shine Gr (fighting, game misconduct - aggressor, game misconduct - third man in), 19:21.

Shots on Goal-Toronto 9-11-9-29. Grand Rapids 11-7-6-24.
Power Play Opportunities-Toronto 1 / 5; Grand Rapids 1 / 4.
Goalies-Toronto, Petruzzelli 3-1-1 (24 shots-21 saves). Grand Rapids, Cossa 1-2-2 (28 shots-22 saves).
A-7,873

Three Stars
1. TOR Ovchinnikov (three goals); 2. TOR Abruzzese (one goal, two assists); 3. GR Lombardi (one goal)

Record / Next Game
Grand Rapids: 3-4-1-1 (8 pts.) / Sat., Nov. 11 vs. Toronto 7 p.m.
Toronto: 6-3-2-0 (14 pts.) / Sat., Nov. 11 at Grand Rapids 7 p.m.

Photo by Nicolas Carrillo