Wild End Griffins’ March, 5-4

Winging It In Motown

[From the Griffins]

DES MOINES, Iowa – Connor Dewar started and finished the night’s scoring on Saturday, lifting the Iowa Wild to a 5-4 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins at Wells Fargo Arena. His second goal came with 3:35 remaining to break a 4-4 tie and hand the Griffins their first regulation loss since Feb. 28, snapping Grand Rapids’ six-game point streak (4-0-2-0) and four-game road winning streak.

Despite being outshot 13-3 during the opening period, the Wild went to the locker room with a 1-0 lead thanks to Dewar, who beat Pat Nagle with a wrister from the left circle at 19:18, just two seconds after the only power play of the frame expired.

A total of six goals were scored at a furious pace during the second, starting with Calen Addison’s tally from the high slot at 3:16 that put Iowa ahead 2-0. But the Griffins answered with two goals in a span of 13 seconds to knot matters, beginning with Patrick Curry’s one-timer from the right circle during a power play at 6:06 and followed by a Tyler Spezia shot from the right side that trickled past goalie Joel Rumpel. Albin Grewe earned the primary assist on Spezia’s goal for his first point as a Griffin.

The Wild responded with a pair of goals that bounced off bodies and re-established their two-goal cushion at 4-2. Ryan O’Rourke’s blast from the left point hit traffic and fluttered over Nagle at 7:05 for his first pro groal, before a centering pass from Gerald Mayhew was redirected into the net by Gabriel Dumont’s face at 12:32.

The Griffins tallied their second power play goal of the period and fourth of the weekend with 1:46 remaining before intermission, pulling within one when Givani Smith whipped a shot top-shelf from a sharp right-side angle off a nifty feed by Curry. The assist gave Curry his first two-point game as a pro.

Spezia finished off his second two-goal game of the season with just under 10 minutes left in the third, as he pounced on a loose puck in the slot and quickly put it past Rumpel to tie things up at 4-4. Riley Barber is the only other Griffin with a pair of two-goal outings this season.

The Griffins, who twice fought back from two-goal deficits, could not respond to Dewar’s late marker, suffering their fourth regulation loss of the campaign despite a 40-21 shot advantage.

Notes

· Joe Hicketts followed up his three-assist game on Friday with two more helpers tonight.

· Smith (3-1—4) and Dominic Turgeon (1-3—4) each extended his point streak to three games.

· With Brian Lashoff out tonight, the Griffins slotted three rookie defensemen into their lineup in Charle-Edouard D’Astous, Tory Dello and Donovan Sebrango. D’Astous had an assist on Spezia’s first goal to mark his first point of the season.

Photo Gallery

Game Center

Box Score

Grand Rapids 0 3 1 – 4

Iowa 1 3 1 – 5

1st Period-1, Iowa, Dewar 6 (O’Rourke, Chaffee), 19:18. Penalties-Hicketts Gr (roughing), 17:16.

2nd Period-2, Iowa, Addison 3 (Sheehy, McLeod), 3:16. 3, Grand Rapids, Curry 2 (Hicketts, Turgeon), 6:06 (PP). 4, Grand Rapids, Spezia 3 (Grewe, D’Astous), 6:19. 5, Iowa, O’Rourke 1 (Dewar), 7:05. 6, Iowa, Dumont 8 (Mayhew, Shaw), 12:32. 7, Grand Rapids, Smith 4 (Curry, Elson), 18:14 (PP). Penalties-Chaffee Ia (boarding), 4:17; Spezia Gr (fighting), 6:33; Burton Ia (fighting), 6:33; O’Rourke Ia (holding), 9:04; McLeod Ia (hooking), 14:36; Belpedio Ia (cross-checking), 16:25.

3rd Period-8, Grand Rapids, Spezia 4 (Loggins, Hicketts), 10:03. 9, Iowa, Dewar 7 (Giroux, Bartkowski), 16:25. Penalties-D’Astous Gr (tripping), 6:14; Curry Gr (slashing), 10:58.

Shots on Goal-Grand Rapids 13-15-12-40. Iowa 3-10-8-21.

Power Play Opportunities-Grand Rapids 2 / 4; Iowa 0 / 3.

Goalies-Grand Rapids, Nagle 4-3-0 (21 shots-16 saves). Iowa, Rumpel 1-1-0 (40 shots-36 saves).

A-4,027

Three Stars

1. IA Dewar (two goals, assist); 2. GR Spezia (two goals); 3. IA O’Rourke (goal, assist)

Record / Next Game

Grand Rapids: 8-4-2-0 (18 pts.) / Thurs., April 1 at Chicago 3 p.m. EDT

Iowa: 5-9-2-0 (12 pts.) / Tue., March 30 at Texas 7 p.m. CDT

Articles You May Like

SSOTD: Red Wings vs. Avalanche, 12/7/2024
Projected Lineups for Red Wings vs Senators – 12/5/24
Red Wings End Skid in 6-5 Shootout Win Over the Sabres
Red Wings Need Patrick Kane to Step Up
SSOTD: Sabres vs. Red Wings, 12/9/2024

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *