GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Chicago Wolves goaltender Adam Scheel frustrated the Griffins in Grand Rapids on Friday night, snuffing out several golden scoring opportunities and lifting Chicago to a 2-1 overtime shootout win.
Grand Rapids skated great in the first period, but was a bit off time and again. Grand Rapids officially had 35 shots on goal, but they may have had a dozen more that just missed the net. And it didn't help that Scheel stood on his head most of the game, figuratively speaking.
Griffins' goalie Sebastian Cossa played very well, too, but not as good as Scheel.
It was an exciting game for a fairly large crowd at Van Andel Arena that turned out on a night when it was pouring rain outside.
The Griffins extend their streak of racking up a standings point to 15 straight games at home. But now they head to first-place Milwaukee on Saturday night.
Period-by-period capsulizations:
Overtime:
[9:37pm] It comes down to a shootout, with both teams tied at 1-1 after three periods and an overtime session at Van Andel Arena. Nathan Sucese shoots wide right on his chance. Amadeus Lombardi loses control of the puck on his opportunity. In Round 2, Rocco Grimaldi dekes goalie Sebastian Cossa, but Cossa gets a toe on the puck to deflect it just wide of the net. Max Comtois then scores in the 3rd round for the Wolves with a shot over Cossa's left leg pad. Austin Czarnik fails to score for Grand Rapids in the 3rd round, and Chicago gets the O.T. shootout win, 2-1. They finish with 26 shots on goal to the Griffins' 35.
[9:30pm] Overtime is underway: 3-on-3 play. Dominik Shine skated in right in on goal, but Scheel stymied him with 2 minutes left in the extra frame. Griffins goalie Cossa returned the favor at 1:42, blocking a breakaway chance by Sucese. That brings a loud round of cheers from the Griffins' fans. The same happened with :30 seconds left. Cory Conacher with great speed stole the puck and walked right in on goal, but Cossa deflected his shot wide. The shots stand at 35-26 Grand Rapids at the end of O.T.
3rd Period:
[9:26pm] The Griffins and Wolves are going to overtime, tied at 1-1 after 60 minutes of play. Grand Rapids leads in shots on goal, 29-24. The Griffins won the shots-on-net battle in the 3rd, 8-2. They extend their home standings-point streak to 14 games with the regulation-time tie.
[9:08pm] Rafferty centers the puck to Dominik Shine on the Wolves' doorstep, but it deflects wide of the net at about the halfway point of the 3rd period. Hirose wristed a shot that Scheel got his glove on in the nick of time to prevent a Grand Rapids goal with 8 minutes left in regulation.
[8:58] The Griffins start off the 3rd period buzzing the Wolves' cage. Center Amadeus Lombardi fires a shot over the Chicago net, which has been the story of the game to this point for the Griffins: close, but no cigar.
2nd Period:
[8:35pm] The 2nd period ends with the score still knotted at 1-1. No goals that period. A fun game so far, but the Griffins will need to start capitalizing on some of their many chances. Grand Rapids trails in shots on goal, 22-20. Each team had 10 shots on net in the 2nd period. The Griffins didn't have quite as many golden chances in the 2nd period as they did in the first.
[8:28] A two-minute high-sticking penalty is assessed to Chicago left wing Isaac Ratcliffe at the 15:44 mark of the 2nd period (4:16 left), and Grand Rapids is on yet another power play. Brogan Rafferty's shot in close as gobbled up by Scheel and the power play ends with no goal scored. The crowd boos as a baby wearing a Chicago jersey is hoisted up for the arena camera. "I've never seen that before," P.A. announcer Eric Zane exclaims to the crowd.
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1st Period:
[7:44pm] The 1st period comes to a close with the game tied, 1-1. Chicago led in shots on goal, 12-11, but the Griffins had a lot more chances in close. However, their shots missed the net a few times from close range.
[7:38pm] A hard hit by Griffin Cross Hanas into Chicago player Alex Green along the boards to the left of Grand Rapids goalie Sebastian Cossa, with 2:31 to go. No penalty is called as it was a clean hit by Hanas, but Green stays face-down on the ice for a couple minutes. He gets up and skates to the Wolves' bench.
[7:31pm] The Griffins are skating fast tonight and just tied the game with 6:34 left in the first frame. Taro Hirose with a great net-front tip-in after Grand Rapids had a flurry of opportunities. It was his 7th goal of the season and first since Jan. 19. A nice feed by Czarnik, and also an assist by Brogan Rafferty.
[7:23pm] The Wolves draw first blood on a slapshot from the right point by Tory Delio at 8:11 into the first period that Griffins' goalie Sebastian Cossa may have been screened on. It was an unassisted goal (his second of the season) and came right off a face-off.
[7:15pm] A late-arriving crowd in the heavy rain.
About 4 minutes in, the Griffins lead in shots on goal, 3-1. A 2-minute penalty against Arriti Tuomisoto for delay of game after the puck is flipped over the glass.The Griffins got a shorthanded opportunity a moment later with a breakaway by Austin Czarnik but goalie Adam Scheel was equal to the task. And Dominik Shine had another breakaway chance a moment later, but fired the puck wide of the goal. Nevertheless, the Griffins killed the Wolves' power play.
-----------Game Notes:
It would have been the Griffins' 100th victory over Chicago over the years.
Despite the loss, the Griffins have a 15-game home standings point streak (9-0-3-2) at Van Andel Arena. That is Grand Rapids' best home streak since January 2016. Their franchise-tying overall 18-game points streak ended in Cleveland last weekend, against the North Division-leading Monsters.
Friday night's game was broadcast on WOOD Radio, and also streamed live worldwide by AHL TV.
The Griffins will visit the Central Division-leading Milwaukee Admirals on Saturday at 7 p.m. 6:45 broadcast time on WOOD Radio. The Griffins are in second place in that division.
Defenseman William Wallinder will miss a second straight game with a lower-body injury Saturday night. Jonatan Berggren wasn't available for Grand Rapids on Friday night, as the Griffins' leading scorer (19 goals) this season was called up by the parent club, the Detroit Red Wings.
A fun and strange game at Van Andel Arena on Friday night, 3-8-2024.