Tucson Roadrunners 3 at GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 1

Oct. 25, 2017

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Tucson Roadrunners took advantage of a penalty-plagued Grand Rapids squad to prevail in their first-ever matchup with the Griffins, a 3-1 decision on Wednesday at Van Andel Arena.

Tucson enjoyed 10 power play chances to just four for Grand Rapids, marking the most opportunities for a Griffins opponent since March 15, 2014 at Oklahoma City. While the Roadrunners capitalized just twice, it was enough to push them past a Griffins team that has been held to two or fewer goals in each of its four straight defeats (0-3-0-1) and in five of its last six outings overall.

Grand Rapids will conclude a three-game homestand on Friday when the Chicago Wolves pay a 7 p.m. visit, in a rematch of last spring’s Central Division Finals.

Following a scoreless opening frame in which Tucson held a 12-9 shot margin, it was Grand Rapids that lit the scoreboard first at 3:15 of the middle period. Luke Esposito burst into the Tucson zone and drew a pair of defenders to him before slipping a feed across to Dominik Shine, who whipped a shot behind Hunter Miska from the bottom of the right circle. The scoring play marked the first pro goal for Shine and the first pro point for Esposito.

Penalties proved disastrous for Grand Rapids (2-4-0-1) later in the period as Tucson (3-1-1-0) notched all three of its goals in a span of 4:31, the first two coming courtesy of 5-on-3 and 5-on-4 power plays. A cross-checking penalty to Evgeny Svechnikov and a double minor for high-sticking to Dominic Turgeon resulted in 1:20 of a two-man advantage for the Roadrunners, and they converted 49 seconds in when Mike Sislo’s one-timer from above the circles sailed past Tom McCollum at 10:15.

With 3:11 still remaining in Turgeon’s sentence, Tucson went back to work then took the lead at the 11:34 mark, as Kyle Capobianco connected on a blast from the left point that hit iron on its way into the net. The Roadrunners made it a 3-1 contest at 14:46, with Dylan Strome collecting a mishandled puck in the high slot, sliding into the right circle and snapping a shot inside McCollum’s far post. That goal made it a three-point night for Strome, the third overall pick (Arizona) in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.

The Griffins survived another four minutes in penalties to Dylan McIlrath before the period expired, thanks in part to an interference call on Michael Latta that consumed half of Tucson’s power play time, but the visitors showed seven power plays to Grand Rapids’ two through 40 minutes.

Incredibly, the Griffins faced a third four-minute penalty kill due to a double high-sticking call against Esposito 5:28 into the third, but they answered the call and eventually outshot Tucson 15-5 over the final 20 minutes.

McCollum went to the bench in favor of an extra attacker with 2:30 remaining, and a Tucson penalty a minute later gave the Griffins six skaters to the Roadrunners’ four for the duration, but they were unable to dent Miska for a second time. The Tucson backstop finished with 32 saves while McCollum turned aside 24 shots.

Notes: In 228 periods last season, the Griffins allowed three or more goals 10 times. In their first 21 periods this season, they’ve surrendered at least three goals on five occasions…The Griffins debuted “HDV” jersey patches worn in honor of Helen DeVos, the Grand Rapids philanthropist and mother of Griffins co-owner and CEO Dan DeVos who passed away one week ago at the age of 90.

Three Stars: 1. TUC Strome (goal, two assists); 2. TUC Miska (W, 32 saves); 3. GR Shine (goal)