Oct. 6, 2018

SAN ANTONIO – The Grand Rapids Griffins were shut out in their second game of the season, 4-0, by the San Antonio Rampage on Saturday night at the AT&T Center.

The Rampage (1-0-0-0) earned their first victory against Grand Rapids since March 22, 2016, snapping the Griffins’ eight-game winning streak in the series. Ville Husso turned away all 28 shots to record his first career win against the Griffins in his eighth appearance.

Grand Rapids (0-2-0-0) will return to action Friday, Oct. 12, when the Griffins open the home portion of their schedule against the Hershey Bears at 7 p.m.

The first period saw a variety of good chances by both teams. For the Griffins, Filip Zadina and Dominic Turgeon notched back-to-back shots that sent Husso searching for the puck midway through the frame, but the goaltender managed to keep the Griffins off the scoreboard.

It was San Antonio that opened scoring late in the first period, courtesy of Trevor Smith. Grand Rapids netminder Harri Sateri corralled the puck off a shot from Niko Mikkola and sent it to defenseman Trevor Hamilton, but a botched pass between him and Wade Megan landed the puck in the hands of Smith, who tallied the first goal of the night at 16:12.

A second Rampage goal was scored on a power play after Colin Campbell was penalized for high-sticking at 10:02 in the second period. Jake Walman sent the puck to Joey LaLeggia near the top right faceoff dot, who tacked on an insurance goal with 8:54 left in the frame.

Turgeon nearly cut the Rampage’s lead in half when he cleaned up an attempt with 5:30 to go, but Husso stuffed the shot and kept Grand Rapids off the scoresheet.

The Rampage extended their lead to 3-0 just 1:40 into the third with a power play goal from captain Adam Musil. Ryan Olsen tacked on the Rampage’s fourth and final goal 10:49 later to account for the game’s final margin.

Grand Rapids was edged out in shots, 29-28, despite strong attempts by Megan (team-high five shots), Mackenze Stewart (four shots), Zadina (three shots)and Campbell (three shots).

The Griffins went 0-for-4 in power play opportunities, while San Antonio finished 1-for-4.

Sateri notched 25 saves on the night while making his second start in as many games this season.

Notes: Defenseman Matt Finn made his debut with the Griffins…First-year Griffin Megan previously played for the Rampage, notching 31 points through 115 games from 2012-15…Second-year Griffin Turner Elson spent the 2016-17 season in San Antonio, scoring three points in 13 games.

Three Stars: 1. SA Husso (SO, 28 saves); 2. SA MacEachern (6 shots); 3. SA LaLeggia (goal)

Photo by Darren Abate/AHL