Griffins avoid elimination once again by beating Marlies 5-4 Saturday (with photos)

 

By Pat Evans –

GRAND RAPIDS – Two games don’t win a best-of-five series, a message Grand Rapids Griffins head coach Jeff Blashill sent to his players following a 5-4 win against Toronto Saturday at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids.

The message is the same as the one he relayed to the team last Sunday when the Griffins dropped the first two games of the series in Toronto.

Saturday’s win wasn’t as complete as Wednesday’s 5-2 victory, but a victory nonetheless.

“I thought tonight was a real close game,” Blashill said. “I thought we played good, but not as good as we played Wednesday. Toronto had something to say about that, they pushed real hard.”

Tomas Nosek scored twice, while Teemu Pulkkinen, Tyler Bertuzzi and Andreas Athanasiou also found the back of the net for the Griffins in their home victory. Tom McCollum stopped 28 of the 32 shots he faced to pick up his second win of the postseason.

Photos by Amanda O’Toole/MiHockey

Toronto struck first when forward Matt Frattin fired a puck that appeared to hit the crossbar and bounce out of the net just 46 seconds into the game. Officials reviewed the play and ruled it a goal.

Despite the early deficit, the Griffins weren’t caught too far back on their heels.

“That was in the first minute, you still have 59 minutes left in the game,” Athanasiou said. “WE knew that goal wasn’t going to be the winner.”

Five minutes later, Grand Rapids found itself shorthanded, but was able to control the puck and keep it in the Marlie zone for much of the penalty kill, when Nosek found the back of the net.

Nosek’s strong special-teams’ play continued 11 minutes into the period when he found the back of the net on a power play to give the Griffins a 2-1 lead they carried into the second period.

The sole second-period goal was scored by Toronto forward Matt Rupert, who fired the puck from the point and sent it bouncing across the ice and into the net, past McCollum.

Athanasiou started the Griffins’ impressive third period with his third goal of the postseason. The Griffins’ forward went flying up the ice and past the defense before attempting to beat Toronto goalie Christopher Gibson, who saved the attempt. Athanasiou corralled the puck and flipped it at Gibson’s back and bounced it in the net.

“I picked up as much speed as I could,” he said. “I knew I had the D with a step and I thought I had it right on the breakaway, but I missed it. I knew he would be off his post, so I tried throwing it off him.”

With about 14 minutes left in the game, the Grand Rapids power play struck again. Forward Mark Zengerle won the first face-off of the power play and sent it back to Pulkkinen ,who wound up and fired a slap shot past Gibson.

The goal was Pulkkinen’s sixth in the playoffs, and Grand Rapids improved to 6-of-14 on the man-advantage for the series.

“It’s good, I enjoy playing hockey and it’s been a lot of fun for me,” Pulkkinen said of his stint in Grand Rapids following his return from the Detroit Red Wings. “It’s a team sport, it doesn’t matter who scores the goals.”

Bertuzzi finished of Grand Rapids’ scoring with a shot that hit Gibson in the chest before trickling between his legs 15:18 into the third. Bertuzzi missed the first two games of the series with the flu before scoring a goal in each of the past two games to help tie the series. He also has an assist in the series.

He said he’s still not 100 percent, but drinking a lot of fluids.

Toronto pulled their goalie and scored twice with the extra attacker in the last 1:05 of the game.

McCollum said he didn’t think the last two goals were an accurate portrayal of the game.

“They had an extra attacker and just stuck three guys in front of the net and fired away and a few found their way through the crowd,” he said. “We won the game, it doesn’t matter how or when they scored.”

The two teams meet again Sunday at Van Andel Arena with the series on the line.

“Our focus is the same, a singular focus to go win a hockey game,” Blashill said. “The puck re-drops tomorrow, we’ll have to out-execute, out-will, out-compete them and they’re saying the same thing.”