Kids continue to roll as Griffins improve to 2-0 in series

Photo Credit: Scott Paulus/Milwaukee Admirals (via Grand Rapids Griffins/Flickr)

The Grand Rapids Griffins find themselves just one game away from the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs after picking up their second win in as many nights against the Milwaukee Admirals. Once again, they received a lot of help from their younger friends.

Grand Rapids started this game off in an opportunistic position when Milwaukee defenceman Patrick Mullen was sent to the penalty box for a slash. It didn’t take long for them to take advantage; just 36 seconds into the ensuing powerplay, Anthony Mantha made quick work out of a rebound created my Martin Frk and placed it just out of reach of Juuse Saros to open the scoring.

It was the only goal in a run-and-gun first period, but it wasn’t the last one that the Griffins would score in the game. Grand Rapids once again took advantage of a penalty, and this time made Max Reinhart pay for his mistakes by having Eric Tangradi set Tyler Bertuzzi up for his third goal of the series.

The Griffins were outshot 10-6 in the second period, and didn’t fare much better in the 3rd (11-7), but shots are only worth about as much as the ones that go into the net. In that sense, Vladislav Kamenev created some nervousness with his own powerplay goal which saw him do a neat spin-o-rama in front of the net, but ultimately it was the only one of 32 shots against Tom McCollum that found their way in.

With the 2-1 win, the Griffins need just one more victory in the next three games to advance; doing so would pit them against the Lake Erie Monsters, who completed their sweep of the Rockford IceHogs tonight with a 5-3 win.

Their first opportunity to get that win will come on Tuesday night, when they take on the Admirals with home ice advantage.