Griffins beat Aeros in first home playoff game since 2009

By Pat Evans –

GRAND RAPIDS – With the same physical, chippy play the Grand Rapids Griffins and Houston Aeros have seen all series long, the Griffins took the 2-1 series lead with a 4-2 win.

Adam Almquist scored the game winner with less than four minutes left in the game.

The defensive minded Aeros could have had trouble with the Minnesota Wild calling up goaltender Darcy Kuemper on Tuesday, leaving rookie Mike Condon to start. Condon had just three professional games under his belt following his senior season at Princeton this year.

Yet Condon faced 38 shots, and stopped 35 of them.

“It doesn’t matter what the name on the back of the jersey,” Griffins head coach Jeff Blashill said. “He was making the same stops that Kuemper was making for them. He was good for them and Petr (Mrazek) was good for us.”

Both teams made it tough on the other to score, keeping the same low-scoring mentality on the ice as the two games in Houston.

“It’s been the same way the whole time,” Griffins forward and captain Jeff Hoggan said. “It’s playoff hockey, you have to enjoy it, it’s actually a lot of fun. It’s part of our game, it’s one of the things we can do is get in there and get feisty.”

Four minutes into the first period, the Aeros, despite a slow offensive start, had the first real scoring chance with a pile in front of the net, almost slipping a shot by Griffins goalie Mrazek.

About minutes later, Tomas Jurco came in fast from the right side almost netting a puck skating to the left of Aeros goalie Mike Condon.

Much of the rest of the first period was spent with the Griffins taking their time on the offensive and setting up shots, while Houston did its best to return fire with quick shots and rebound chances.

The Aeros eventually capitalized on one of the chances with less than a minute left in the period when forward Erik Haula snapped a shot off a rebound and past Mrazek.

The Griffins weren’t ones to give up though, after falling behind 1-0 in the series on Friday.

“We won’t ever have any doubt in our game,” Hoggan said. “We believe we can beat these guys and we’re down one and we bounce back; down game one and we’re back. And you’ll see that no matter what happens.”

A little more than five minutes into the second period, on a power play,  forward Jeff Hoggan fired the puck past Condon to even the score at one. Jurco and defenseman Nathan Paetsch assisted on the shot.

On the ensuing face-off, the Griffins came close yet again with a face-paced attack in the Aero zone.

With 7:18 remaining in the second, the Griffins took the lead when winger Triston Grant found forward Teemu Pulkkinen from the left side of the net and Pulkkinen scored glove side on the right-handed Condon.

Not two minutes later, Houston forward David McIntyre tied the game up with a bouncing puck past Mrazek.

Grand Rapids continued to pepper Condon through the rest of the second period with another two scoring chances with just more than two minutes left in the second.

Hoggan had almost slipped a puck past Condon with just under five minutes in the third when a shot from the point bounced over Condon’s pads and just right of the goal.

Less than a minute later, forward Adam Almquist danced around the Aero defense from right to left and scored while falling over to give the Griffins the 3-2 lead.

“I tried to follow the rush, got a good pass and tried to fake the d in front of the net,” Almquist said. “I was kind of blacked out a little bit, don’t know what happened but it went in.”

A one-goal lead was all the Griffins needed late in the game to be able to relax.

“If you get up like that late against these guys you’ll be able clamp down and be alright,” Hoggan said.

Forward Luke Glendening sealed the deal with an empty-netter with 13.1 seconds left following a long scrum behind the Griffins net.

The best of five series continues 7 p.m. Friday at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, with another game Saturday if necessary.

“You’d like (to close it Friday) for sure,” Hoggan said. “But we’ll come out with the same effort and see what happens.”