GRIFFINS HOLD OFF WILD, DEFEAT IOWA 6-2
Dec 7, 2022GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins took advantage of an early goal and a pair of second period power play tallies Wednesday, beating the Iowa Wild by a 6-2 score. Sammy Walker picked up his 11th goal for the Wild and his AHL rookie-best 22nd point of the season in the defeat.
Albert Johansson opened the scoring at 2:39 of the first period when he fired a shot from the left circle under the glove of Zane McIntyre (31 saves) to give Grand Rapids an early 1-0 lead.
The Wild trailed 1-0 heading into the first intermission but held a 16-10 shot advantage over the Griffins.
Grand Rapids struck again with a power play marker in the opening minutes of the second period. After Taro Hirose set up Alex Chiasson on top of the crease, Chiasson tucked a no-look pass through the net mouth to Pontus Andreasson, who went high to give the Griffins a 2-0 lead at 1:32 of the second.
The Griffins stretched their lead to 3-0 at 8:42 of the middle frame when a shot from Hirose deflected directly to Joel L’Esperance on the back door, who scored the second power play goal of the period for Grand Rapids.
After 40 minutes, Iowa trailed 3-0 and Grand Rapids led the shot count 28-26.
Dakota Mermis pulled the Wild back within two in the early stages of the third period. Mermis corralled a clearing attempt at the left point and walked uncontested down into the circle before firing the puck off the post and in at 4:15.
Steven Kampfer answered 36 seconds later to give the Griffins a 4-1 advantage. Chiasson found Kampfer trailing the rush, and Kampfer took advantage of time and space to score his second goal of the season.
Iowa responded with 12:10 to play. Ryan O’Rourke took a point shot that was blocked directly to Simon Johansson, who snapped a shot into traffic in front of the net. Walker found the loose puck and put it by Magnus Hellberg (40 saves) to make the score 4-2.
The back-and-forth continued with a fifth Griffins goal at 11:21 when a shot from L’Esperance hit McIntyre and Mermis before tumbling over the goal line.
Kampfer added an empty net goal for Grand Rapids with 2:57 remaining to cap the scoring at 6-2.
Iowa outshot Grand Rapids 42-37. The Wild went 1-for-4 on the power play while the Griffins were 2-for-8 with the man advantage.
The Iowa Wild travel to BMO Harris Bank Center on Friday, Dec. 9 to face the Rockford IceHogs at 7:00 p.m.
Iowa Wild hockey is presented by MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center. For more information, please visit www.iowawild.com. Fans can purchase single-game tickets through the team’s website at www.iowawild.com. Group tickets (10 or more), suites, Wild memberships or premium tickets can be purchased by contacting the Iowa Wild Ticket Department at 515-564-8700 or tickets@iowawild.com. The 2022-23 season marks the 10th anniversary of Iowa Wild hockey. Fans can purchase season tickets for the 10th anniversary season at https://www.iowawild.com/wild-365.
Visit http://www.iowawild.com/pressbox for the latest news and information from the team including press releases, game notes, multimedia content, and daily statistics.