GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 2 at Iowa Wild 4

Nov. 17, 2017

DES MOINES, Iowa – The Grand Rapids Griffins kept battling to tie the game with the Iowa Wild, but the home team kept scoring just enough goals to keep a two-goal cushion. On Friday night, the Wild defeated the Griffins 4-2 at Wells Fargo Arena.

Grand Rapids (8-8-0-1) has one more game left on their five-game trip, and tonight they matched up with Iowa (8-6-0-2) who is now on a five-game winning streak. The Griffins road trip concludes tomorrow night in Rockford against the IceHogs at 7 p.m.

Zack Mitchell got Iowa on the board first at 10:59 of the opening frame. Christoph Bertschy corralled the puck behind the net and made a slick pass to Pat Cannone at the side of the net. The center found Mitchell in front of the net and the right winger shot it past Griffins goaltender Tom McCollum’s left leg for the 1-0 lead.

The Wild added to their lead in the second period when Kyle Rau tallied his fourth goal of the year with 7:03 left in the second stanza. The left winger deflected a pass from defenseman Ryan Murphy over McCollum’s left glove for the 2-0 advantage.

Turner Elson got the Griffins on the board just 18 seconds later with his sixth goal of the young campaign. Axel Holmstrom collected the puck in the left corner and passed it to Evgeny Svechnikov behind the net. The winger passed it to Elson who skated towards the net and tapped it over Wild goaltender Steve Michalek’s right blocker to make the score 2-1.

The Wild regained a two-goal lead when former Griffin Landon Ferraro scored with 5:15 left in the middle period. He took a shot from the high slot, but it was deflected by defenseman Joe Hicketts and it sailed past McCollum’s right blocker.

Grand Rapids lit up the lamp first in the final frame at the 8:34 mark as Tyler Bertuzzi added his third goal of the season. Ben Street took a shot from the high slot and the left winger tapped home the power play goal from the left circle to make it 3-2.

With four minutes left in regulation, Christoph Bertschy scored the final goal of the game when he took a cross-ice pass from Brennan Menell as a Griffin defender slipped on the ice. The winger skated into the zone undisturbed and sniped it over McCollum’s glove for the 4-2 score.

Notes: Grand Rapids' power play goal was scored against the league’s top penalty kill…The Wild went 0-for-3 on the power play, giving the Griffins 33 successful penalty kills on their last 34 penalties…The loss drops Grand Rapids to 1-5 on the first night of back-to-backs

Three Stars: 1. IA Rau (goal, assist); 2. IA Mitchell (goal, assist); 3. IA Bertschy (goal, assist)