GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 4 at Iowa Wild 1

March 21, 2014

DES MOINES, Iowa — The Grand Rapids Griffins took the lead 13 seconds after the puck dropped and kept it for the remainder of the game in their 4-1 rout of the Iowa Wild on Friday at Wells Fargo Arena.

The Griffins (40-18-2-4) and Wild will face each other for a rematch Saturday at 2:05 p.m. EDT before Grand Rapids closes out its road three-in-three against the Chicago Wolves on Sunday at 4 p.m. EDT.

Jeff Hoggan’s marker 13 seconds into the game was the Griffins’ fastest goal from the start of a period this season. He settled a bouncing puck along the left boards in the Wild zone and sent a wrist shot that beat Johan Gustafsson.

The rest of the opening period remained scoreless, but an early goal by Mitch Callahan at 1:43 of the second frame doubled Grand Rapids’ lead. Tyler Cuma lost the puck as he was carrying it out from behind Gustafsson’s net, and Callahan was there to jab the puck into the net.

Ryan Sproul was called for hooking at 3:26, and the Wild (25-17-6-4) capitalized on the man-advantage to cut the Griffins’ lead in half. Kris Foucault and Stephane Veilleux exchanged a give-and-go that resulted in a saucer pass finding the stick of Foucault in front of Tom McCollum’s net. He scored at 4:53 to make it 2-1.

With 14 seconds remaining in the period, Andrej Nestrasil scored his fourth goal in three games. Callahan rushed Iowa’s net, but his shot deflected to the goal line where Nestrasil was waiting to bury the puck.

The final goal of the game was scored by David McIntyre at 9:20 of the third period. He stickhandled around Wild players to put himself in the high slot for a wrister through traffic into the top shelf.

In his third straight win, McCollum stopped 17 of 18 shots. Gustafsson turned away 25 of 29 shots.

Three Stars: 1. GR Callahan (game-winning goal, assist); 2. GR Hoggan (goal, assist); 3. IA Foucault (goal)