Oct. 22, 2010 – Milwaukee Admirals 3 at GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 2

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Linus Klasen’s goal five minutes into the third period on Friday proved to be the game-winner for the Milwaukee Admirals, who held on for a 3-2 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins at Van Andel Arena.

Coming off a pair of wins in Manitoba last weekend, the Griffins missed a chance to claim their first three-game winning streak since Dec. 2009. All five of Grand Rapids’ games this season have been decided by a single goal.

The Griffins (2-2-0-1) will continue their first three-in-three set of the season on Saturday when they visit the Rochester Americans at 7:35 p.m.

The two teams traded power play goals in the opening 10 minutes of the game. Grand Rapids struck first at the 6:34 mark, as Cory Emmerton collected a pass from Ilari Filppula out of the right corner and quickly stickhandled through the slot before slipping a shot past Mark Dekanich.

Milwaukee (2-1-1-1) answered during a two-man advantage at 9:47. Klasen set up shop along the goal line to the right of Joey MacDonald and fired a cross-ice pass to Jamie Lundmark, who blasted home a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle.

With exactly six minutes left in the frame, the Griffins appeared to relax slightly as the Admirals entered their zone, perhaps thinking Milwaukee was offside, and Andreas Thuresson sent a long shot from the right point that eluded MacDonald’s pad to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.

Following a scoreless second period, the Griffins pulled even early in the third on a spectacular individual effort by Jan Mursak during a Milwaukee power play. After stealing the puck at the Grand Rapids blue line, he sprinted off on a breakaway and beat Dekanich glove-side with a wrist shot at 3:08 for the Griffins’ first shorthanded goal of the season.

The 2-2 deadlock lasted only 1:56, as Klasen scored from the slot to re-establish the Admirals’ one-goal advantage.

The Griffins furiously tried to knot the score again in the waning minutes, but an interference penalty to Brendan Smith at 17:09 and some late heroics by Dekanich enabled the Admirals to secure the victory.

Dekanich, reassigned to Milwaukee by the Nashville Predators on Monday, made 24 saves for the win, while MacDonald finished with 22 stops.

Three Stars: 1. MIL Klasen (game-winning goal, assist); 2. GR Mursak (shorthanded goal); 3. MIL Geoffrion (two assists)