Griffins fall on opening night, but rebound for Saturday win over Lake Erie

Photo by Amanda O'Toole/MiHockey
Photo by Amanda O’Toole/MiHockey

 

By Pat Evans – 

The Grand Rapids Griffins apparently can improve a lot on a bus ride to Cleveland.

Following a rough 4-0 loss to Lake Erie in the season opener at Van Andel Arena, which saw plenty of chances squandered, the Griffins followed up with a 3-2 win against the same time on the road the next night. The season-opening series came following two preseason games between the teams in Windsor, Ontario and Fort Wayne, Ind., both of which were won by Lake Erie.

“I just think we got a lot of room for improvement, and that’s OK, that’s what you got to do,” Grand Rapids head coach Jeff Blashill said following Friday’s shutout.

The Griffins didn’t have their complete roster until just two days prior to the season opener as players such as Xavier Ouellet and Mitch Callahan were late cuts by the Detroit Red Wings.

The team didn’t play poorly against the Monsters Friday, but made a few mistakes, resulting in three goals — the fourth was an open-netter — and saw pucks bouncing in, out and around the goal. Lake Erie goalie Calvin Pickard didn’t help the matter as he stood on his head saving all 37 shots he faced.

Several Griffins nearly scored, including a hard shot from Teemu Pulkkinen, a fancy move from Andreas Athanasiou and a one-timer when Athanasiou fed Colin Campbell on a 2-on-1 rush.

“I do think if we score on our chances, and we had some good ones, the game takes on a different life,” Griffins head coach Jeff Blashill said following the game. “We have to make sure we have enough resilience to handles situations where you playing pretty good but the game goes the other way. You got to keep playing.”

The Monsters struck on three slight mistakes by the Griffins, including two first-period strikes from forward Karl Stollery. The first goal came off of a Griffin turnover eight minutes into the game near their own goal and Stollery slipped a shot past goalie Petr Mrazek.

The second goal came less than 10 minutes later when Stollery’s shot appeared to go off a Griffin stick and past Mrazek.

“Those (two goals) were really just singular,” he said. “Instead of just playing, we kind of tried to force things and then we had out-numbered rushes in the second period and then it costs you.”

The third goal came in the second period as Lake Erie Kenny Ryan picked up the puck near his blueline and skated it up into the Grand Rapids zone and picked an opening between Mrazek and the goal and fired the puck in.

Blashill spoke following the game with assurance the team would improve quickly. He noted the team’s solid seven blueliners — meaning one has to sit out each game — as one of the major strengths. The group houses three NHL-ready defensemen, including Ryan Sproul, Alexey Marchenko and Ouellet, all who spent some time with Detroit last season. Prospects Mattias Backman and Nick Jensen will also compete for time in the NHL at some point in the near future, including this season. Rounding out the defense are AHL veterans Brennan Evans and Nathan Paestch who have anchored Grand Rapids for three years.

Goalies Mrazek and Tom McCollum will continue to rotate as they have the previous two years, including the 2012-13 run to the Calder Cup. McCollum stopped 17 of the 19 shots he faced in Saturday’s win.

The 37 shots also showed Blashill he likely won’t have much to worry about in the way of goals this season, assuming at least some bounces favor the Griffins. Pulkkinen returns this season because of a logjam of forwards in Detroit and his waiver-exempt status this season. He led the team last year with 31 goals and came back firing in both of the opening weekend games. Callahan found the net 26 times a season ago and will look to keep the pace up this season. Both players scored in the team’s win in Cleveland on Saturday.

Several newcomers also will help the scoring units, including Kevin Porter and the official beginning of speedster Athanasiou’s career following a few games late last season.

Despite the blank on the Griffins board on Friday, their rapid improvement in Saturday’s win likely didn’t surprise Blashill.