Peoria, Ill. –The Grand Rapids Griffins rallied to a 3-1 victory over the Peoria Rivermen during Saturday night’s season-opener at the Carver Arena. Thomas McCollum made 23 saves during his professional debut, and Grand Rapids improved to 10-2-2-0 all time both in season openers and road openers.

The win also gave the Griffins points in each of their last 11 (9-0-2-0) road debuts, as well as in seven straight season openers (5-0-2-0).

The Rivermen got on the board first at 6:32 of the first period. Jonas Junland entered the zone on the right wing side and sent a pass to Cam Paddock, who tried a shot from the hash mark. McCollum made the initial save before Ryan Reeves stepped in to bury the rebound.

After dominating the play for the majority of the second period, the Griffins tied the game at one goal apiece with a goal by Andy Delmore at the 11:58 mark. Delmore received a pass from Dick Axelsson at the point, before unleashing a blast that went under the arm of Hannu Toivonen and into the Peoria net.

Grand Rapids then claimed their first lead of the game when Evan McGrath and Francis Pare entered the zone with a give-and-go play, which ended with McGrath finding the back of the net at 14:52.

Toivonen, who gave a 25-save performance on the evening, was pulled in the final minutes of the third period, which allowed Axelsson to cap off the scoring with an empty-net tally with three seconds remaining.

The Griffins will continue their season-opening five-game road trip by traveling to Toronto next Saturday to face off against the Marlies at 3:00 p.m. at the Ricoh Coliseum.

Three Stars: 1. PEO Stastny; 2. GR McCollum (W, 23 saves); 3. PEO Paddock (1 assist).