Prospect round-up: Griffins, Walleye win sold-out games; Setkov heads back to J20; Fulcher wins 29th game

In the AHL, the superbly-performing Filip Hronek and Matt Lorito (1G, 1A) scored regulation goals, Dominic Turgeon scored the only shootout marker and Matej Machovsky stopped 26 of 28 shots and 3 shootout shooters as the Grand Rapids Griffins won 3-2 over the Iowa Wild in a shootout.

The Griffins’ website posted a recap:

BEST IN SHOW

Iowa Wild 2 at GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 3 SO

Feb. 25, 2018

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Matej Machovsky stopped 26 of 28 shots plus all three shootout attempts to earn a victory for the Grand Rapids Griffins in his first AHL start, a 3-2 decision over the Iowa Wild on Sunday at Van Andel Arena.

Matt Lorito’s goal late in the second period tied the score at 2-2 and was the last time the puck hit twine until Dominic Turgeon scored for Grand Rapids in the first round of the shootout, which turned out to be the only goal for either team in the skills session.

The win improved the Griffins’ record to 30-19-1-6 and keeps them in second place in the Central Division race. Grand Rapids, 11-1-0-2 in its last 14 contests and 20-4-0-3 in its last 27, will continue its season-high six-game homestand on Wednesday when the Tucson Roadrunners pay a 7 p.m. visit to Van Andel Arena.

The teams traded power play goals about 10 minutes apart during the first period. Just 1:10 into the frame, Eric Tangradi set a perfect screen in front of Iowa netminder Niklas Svedberg, enabling Filip Hronek’s wrist shot from the point to sneak inside the left post.

The Wild (26-17-7-4) answered at 11:04 when Sam Anas slipped a shot from the left circle through the five-hole of Machovsky, who saw his first AHL action on Wednesday in relief against Chicago. Machovsky was flawless the rest of the period, preserving the 1-1 tie despite Iowa’s 15-8 advantage in shots.

Gerald Mayhew, a second-year forward out of Ferris State University, staked the visitors to a 2-1 lead with 5:26 remaining in the second period, ripping a shot past Machovsky’s glove from the right dot. But the Griffins got it back less than two minutes later, when Lorito took position below the right circle and buried Colin Campbell’s feed from the end boards at the 16:17 mark.

A scoreless third period saw the Wild enjoy the best scoring chances after Campbell was sent to the box for boarding with less than seven minutes remaining, but the Griffins survived a scramble around their net to push the game to overtime.

Lorito had a great chance to end matters early in the extra frame, but his backhand try from the doorstep was gobbled up by Svedberg. Grand Rapids eventually outshot Iowa 4-1 in overtime to no avail, but after Machovsky stopped Anas to open the shootout, Turgeon popped a backhand past Svedberg’s glove to give the Griffins the upper hand. Zack Mitchell missed for the Wild in round two before Tangradi was denied on his try, and Machovsky sealed the win by making a right pad save on Justin Kloos. It was just the third win for Grand Rapids in nine shootouts this season.

Svedberg made 32 saves after finishing with 31 in the Griffins’ 2-1 win on Saturday, but he and the Wild leave Grand Rapids with just one point and now find themselves in fourth place in the standings.

Notes: The crowd of 10,367 – marking the Griffins’ sixth straight weekend home game with an attendance in excess of 10,000 – was accompanied by 434 canines who enjoyed the Jake Engel Memorial Bring Your Dog Game.

Three Stars: 1. GR Lorito (goal, assist); 2. IA Anas (power play goal, assist); 3. GR Hronek (power play goal)

The Griffins’ website also posted a photo gallery, a highlight clip and an interview clip:

FYI from Hronek and Machovsky’s agent:

 

In the ECHL, the Toledo Walleye rallied from a 2-1 deficit as Dylan Sadowy (1G, 1A), Erik Bradford, Kyle Bonis (2G, 1A) and Mike Embach scored goals, and Pat Nagle stopped 36 of 38 shots as the Toledo Walleye defeated the Greenville Swamp Rabbits 5-2.

The Walleye’s website posted a recap and highlight clip:

Walleye break record of sellouts in a single regular season in win over Swamp Rabbits

(Toledo, OH) – The Walleye completed a weekend sweep with a 5-2 victory over the Swamp Rabbits in front of a sold-out crowd on Sunday evening in Toledo. The Walleye are 37-14-2-2 on the season and 23-4-0-0 at home. Pat Nagle stopped 36 of 38 shots for his eighth consecutive win, which ties a Walleye record and is now 26-4-2-1 on the season.

The 7,771 in attendance broke a Walleye record for sellouts with 21 this season.

Dylan Sadowy shot a pass over to Kyle Bonis, who snuck his shot past Swamp Rabbits’ goaltender, Ty Rimmer, at 1:06 of the first period to give the Walleye a 1-0 lead. The Swamp Rabbits would tie the game 1-1 with a shot that beat Nagle at 16:48 of the first. Former Walleye forward, Carter Sandlak, would beat Nagle at 19:57 of the period to give Greenville a 2-1 lead.

Sadowy fired a wrist shot past Rimmer to tie the game 2-2 at 7:37 of the second period. Erik Bradford would strike on the power play at 10:37 of the frame to give the Walleye a 3-2 lead.

Bonis put the game out of reach when he scored his second of the game on the power play at 6:15 of the third period to make it a 4-2. Mike Embach found the back of the net at 12:17 of the third period to give the Walleye the final score of 5-2.

Fish Tales:

  • The Walleye are in Indy on Tuesday for a 7:05 p.m. puck drop against the Fuel. The team returns home on Friday for a 7:15 p.m. puck drop against South Carolina.

  • Nagle stopped 36 of 38 shots and is now 26-4-2-1 on the season. He is currently on an eight-game winning streak, which ties Cal Heeter and Jake Paterson, who each won eight consecutive games last year.

  • Dylan Sadowy has scored in each of his last four games and has eight points in his past seven games.

  • Tonight’s sellout crowd of 7,771 broke the record of most sellouts in a single regular season with 21.

  • Toledo has won 12 consecutive home games, dating back to January 6th. The Walleye record for consecutive home wins is 13, set January 24-March 13, 2016.

 The Walleye also posted a post-game interview with coach Dan Watson:

 

Elsewhere, Red Wings prospects on Twitter  posted an update indicating that Malte Setkov had been sent down to the Swedish J20 league by the Malmo Redhawks. This is a good thing given that Setkov’s not played very much for Malmo’s Allsvenskan team, IK Pantern.

Setkov played on the Malmo Redhawks’ J20 team’s top defensive pair and had an assist and 2 penalties in Malmo’s 3-2 shootout win over AIK Stockholm;

Also in the J20 league, Alfons Malmstrom played on HV71 Jonkoping’s 3rd defensive pairing as HV71 won 5-3 over VIK Vasteras;

In the OHL, Kaden Fulcher stopped 28 of 29 shots in the Hamilton Bulldogs’ 4-1 win over North Bay. Fulcher was named the game’s second star, and he’s won 29 of his 49 starts;

Givani Smith scored a goal on 2 shots, finishing at -1 in the Kitchener Rangers’ 5-2 loss to Ottawa. Smith was named the game’s second star;

Jordan Sambrook finished at +3 with 4 shots in the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds’ 6-2 win over London;

And Reilly Webb finished even with 3 shots in the Saginaw Spirit’s 2-0 loss to Oshawa.

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!