GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 5 at Cleveland Monsters 3

Dec. 30, 2017

CLEVELAND – The Grand Rapids Griffins continued their winning ways against the Cleveland Monsters on Saturday in near duplicate fashion of their 5-2 victory from the night before. This time it took place at Quicken Loans Arena in Ohio and the score was 5-3.

It didn’t take long for the Griffins (13-15-1-4) to light up the lamp. 31 seconds after the opening faceoff, Colin Campbell scored his seventh goal of the season. Dan Renouf sent the puck behind the net where Dominic Turgeon collected it and made a pass into the slot. Campbell skated to the open area and shot the rubber disc between Matiss Kivlenieks’ legs for the 1-0 lead.

Later on, at the 10:47 mark, Evgeny Svechnikov added on to the lead with his third goal. Initially, Svechnikov passed the puck to Robbie Russo at the point. The defenseman passed it to Axel Holmstrom near the left circle who made a quick pass to the right winger who hammered it home with a one-timer shot.

Grand Rapids added two more goals in the second frame, and both of them were from Turgeon. On the first goal, the center scored on a rebound off of a slap shot from Campbell near the left circle. The Monsters goaltender made the initial stop, but the puck trickled past him and sat on the goal line until Turgeon pushed it in for the power play tally.

For the encore, Turgeon lit the lamp with a shot from in front of the net. Matt Lorito carried the puck into the zone up the left boards and skated towards the left corner. Once he skated past the goal line, he made a centering pass to Turgeon for the 4-0 lead.

Cleveland (9-15-3-2) got on the board with 4:22 left in the second period when Carter Camper tallied his seventh goal of the year. Cameron Gaunce brought the puck into the zone and found a flanking Nick Moutrey. The left winger then found a trailing Camper for a one-timer shot near the high slot to make the score 4-1.

Matt Puempel scored on the power play at 7:48 into the final stanza to push the Griffins lead back to four. The left winger collected the puck at the point and passed it to Lorito in the right circle. In a give-and-go effort, Lorito passed it back to a cutting Puempel near the left circle for the quick shot and goal that sailed into the cage.

Just 15 seconds later, the Monsters retaliated with a goal from Miles Koules. The right winger also netted his seventh goal of the season. A bad pass in front of the net led to the deflection off of Koules stick that sent the puck sailing over Tom McCollum’s glove to make it 5-2.

With 38 seconds left in regulation, the Monsters added one more goal to make the final score 5-3. Zac Dalpe potted his first goal of the 2017-18 campaign on a tough second effort from the left circle. Gabriel Carlsson made a slick cross-ice pass from the right circle to the open center. McCollum made the initial save, but the rebound bounced back to Dalpe who hammered it home.

McCollum finished the game with 32 saves, while Kivlenieks ended up with 19 stops on the night.

Three Stars: 1. GR Turgeon (two goals, assist); 2. GR Svechnikov (goal); 3. CLE Dalpe (goal)