GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 4 at Abbotsford Heat 1

April 5, 2013

ABBOTSFORD, British Columbia – The Grand Rapids Griffins reached a historic milestone Friday at the Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre, as their 4-1 victory over the Abbotsford Heat marked their 700th win in the team’s 17-year history.

Landon Ferraro opened up the scoring in Abbotsford to give the Griffins a 1-0 lead at 4:11 of the opening period. Calle Jarnkrok made the initial pass to Tomas Jurco, who found Ferraro for a quick tic-tac-toe play. The center caught goaltender Barry Brust out of position and tapped the puck into an empty net, scoring his 20th goal of the season. The assist was Jarnkrok’s first point in the AHL.

Grand Rapids (40-23-3-3) scored two goals in 47 seconds to take a commanding 3-0 lead over the Heat (31-30-4-6). Ferraro put the Griffins on top 2-0 on a power play goal at 7:12 of the second period. Grand Rapids snapped the puck past Brust on the power play after a feed from Jarnkrok for his second goal of the night. As Brust reached out to block his shot, Ferraro converted a wraparound attempt between the goaltender’s pads.

Jeff Hoggan then made it 3-0, netting his 12th goal in the last 25 games. Jan Mursak fed Hoggan on the right side of the net and the left wing showed great patience, waiting until he was around the goaltender to slide his forehand shot inside the left goal post. The Griffins ended the second period with a 19-4 shot advantage over the Heat.

Petr Mrazek kept the Heat off of the scoreboard with an impressive save midway through the third period. A rebound came free to Abbotsford’s Max Reinhart and Mrazek reached across with his glove hand to protect a wide open net and knock the center’s shot down.

Former Griffin Krys Kolanos scored Abbotsford’s lone goal of the game at 11:16 of the final period. Mrazek made the initial save and the puck fluttered behind him to the goal crease, where Kolanos tapped it into the back of the net for his 15th goal of the season.

Jurco sealed the victory for the Griffins with an empty net goal at 18:24 of the final period. The right wing’s shot from 45 feet away from the net was his 12th goal of the season.

Brust blocked 16 of 19 shots before giving way to Danny Taylor (who stopped all 18 shots he faced), while Mrazek earned the victory with 22 saves.

The Griffins will stay in Abbotsford to wrap up their season-high seven game road trip tomorrow at 10 p.m. EDT against the Heat.

Three Stars: 1. GR Ferraro (two goals); 2. GR Mrazek (W, 22 saves); 3. GR Jarnkrok (two assists)