GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Jimmy Howard made 32 saves and gave the Grand Rapids Griffins every opportunity to win in one of the finest performances of his career, but Jaroslav Halak answered with a perfect 22-save effort on the other end to give the Hamilton Bulldogs a 1-0 victory at Van Andel Arena on Monday.

Grand Rapids (14-17-2-3), which concluded its four-game home series against the Bulldogs (11-14-1-5) with a 2-2 record, will have another crack at the defending champs this Friday in a 7:30 p.m. start at Copps Coliseum.

The first period passed without so much as a penalty by either team, although the Bulldogs were thwarted by Howard on several prime scoring chances while out-shooting Grand Rapids by a 13-5 margin for the frame.

Hamilton again carried the play throughout the middle stanza, building its shot advantage to 26-11, but Howard stifled the visitors time and again, in particular making tremendous kick and glove saves to keep it a scoreless game through 40 minutes.

The Bulldogs’ dominance finally paid dividends on their 30th shot of the evening. During a power play, Daniel Corso sprinted down the right boards and feathered a pass across the circle to Janne Lahti, who redirected the puck inside the left post 6:35 into the third period. As a result of that goal, the Griffins suffered a regulation defeat for just the third time in their last 12 home games (7-3-1-1).

Howard, who keyed Grand Rapids’ re-entry into the playoff race over the last five weeks, posted a 1.72 goals against average and a 0.939 save percentage during December, the best numbers of his career for a calendar month.

The Griffins suffered their second shutout in three games while playing their fifth straight contest without the services of Mark Hartigan (Detroit) and Mark Cullen (injured), two of their top three scorers.