Prospect round-up: Griffins lose to Pens; Walleye win over Quad City; Rasmussen 2G; NCAA playoffs yield eliminations galore

GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 1 at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 2

March 10, 2018

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – Despite outshooting their opponents in every period, the Grand Rapids Griffins fell to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 2-1 at Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night.

The Griffins (31-22-1-6) are back in action on Sunday against the Hershey Bears from the Giant Center at 5 p.m. EST. The Penguins take the ice again on Tuesday night against the Charlotte Checkers.

Adam Johnson put the Penguins on the board at the 12:25 mark of the opening period. His ninth goal of the season was tallied after getting behind the defense and meeting Griffins goaltender Tom McCollum one-on-one. He charged the net, shifted to his backhand, and slipped the puck past the goaltender’s extended left leg.

The Griffins had plenty of opportunities to even the game up, but all 12 shots missed the cage in one form or fashion. Two power plays allowed Grand Rapids to get more shots than the home team. By the end of the frame, the Griffins had doubled up the Penguins in chances 12-6.

The second frame was scoreless for both teams. Despite the Penguins committing three penalties, the Griffins couldn’t convert on any of the benefits. In one sequence Wilkes-Barre/Scranton delivered a two-man advantage due to back-to-back penalties. Matthew Ford had a clear shot from the left circle, but was stonewalled by Anthony Peters.

Ben Street tied the game 7:58 into the final stanza. Vili Saarijarvi took the original shot from the blue line, but it was kept away from the net by various defenders. Street skated towards the rebound and chipped it into the net over Peters’ shoulder for his 12th goal of the season.

Three minutes later, the Penguins regained the lead when Kevin Czuczman added his fourth goal of the campaign. After a series of passes in the Griffins zone, the puck slid to the defenseman who was open in the slot. He took a quick wrist shot that flew over McCollum’s glove for the 2-1 decision.

Grand Rapids pulled McCollum with 1:43 remaining in regulation for the extra attacker. However, the Griffins couldn’t put the puck into the net and the home team skated away with the victory.

Tom McCollum pushed aside 22 shots to drop his record to 10-11-3, while Anthony Peters stopped 32 shots to bring his record to 9-5-3-1.

The Griffins finished 0-for-5 on the power play, while the Penguins went 0-for-4 with the man advantage.

Three Stars: 1. WBS Czuczman (game-winning goal); 2. WBS Peters (W, 32 saves); 3. WBS Johnson (goal)

The Griffins’ website also posted a photo gallery and a highlight clip.

In the ECHL, the Toledo Walleye defeated the Quad City Mallards 4-2, with goals from 4 different goal-scorers, 2 goals from Mike Borkowski and a 32-of-34 save performance from Pat Nagle. The Walleye’s website posted a recap:

Walleye continue sellout record in victory over Mallards

(Toledo, OH) – The Walleye defeated the Mallards 4-2 on Saturday night in Toledo. Pat Nagle stopped 32 of 34 shots and is now 30-4-3-1 on the season. The Walleye are 42-14-3-2 on the season and 26-4-1-0 at home. The crowd of 8,165 marked our 23rd sellout of the season, helping the record continue to grow.

Quad City would take a 1-0 lead at 5:26 of the first period when former Walleye forward Alex Globke found the back of the net. Kyle Bonis’ (20th) shot would sneak past Mallards goaltender, Eric Hartzell at 10:58 to tie the game. At 11:34 of the frame, Kevin Gibson (3rd) picked up the rebound on Mike Embach’s shot and fired it past Hartzell to give the Walleye a 2-1 lead. Ryan Obuchowski (5th) would skate through traffic and fire a shot at 19:24 to extend the Walleye lead to 3-1.

Quad City would cut the lead to 3-2 at 17:36 of the third period. Tyler Barnes (14th) would seal the deal with an empty net goal at 19:44 of the frame to give the final score of 4-2.

Fish Tales:

• The Walleye are home on Sunday for a 5:15 p.m. puck drop against Indy.

• Nagle stopped 32 of 34 shots and is now 30-4-3-1 on the season. He’s 12-0-2 in his past 14 games, a Toledo Walleye record for longest goaltender unbeaten in regulation streak.

• Simon Denis is on an eight-game point streak with 12 points (1G, 11A).

• Mike Borkowski has five points in his last three games (3G, 2A).

• The Walleye are unbeaten in regulation in their past 16 games at home (15-0-1), which is the longest streak in Walleye history.

The Walleye’s website also posted a highlight clip:

Elsewhere, in the Finnish Liiga, Libor Sulak had an assist, finishing at -1 in 26:03 of ice time as his Lahti Pelicans lost 4-3 to Sport. Lahti will play SaiPa in the Liiga playoffs;

In the SHL, Christoffer Ehn had an assist and finished at +1 on 3 shots, winning 72% of his faceoffs in 15:10 played during the Frolunda Indians’ 8-3 win over Brynas IF;

In the Allsvenskan playoffs, Malte Setkov played on the first defensive pairing in IK Pantern’s 5-4 loss to IF Bjorkloven;

Gustav Lindstrom played on the second defensive pairing in Almtuna IS’s 3-2 OT loss to AIK Stockholm;

In the J20 league, Alfons Malmstrom scored a goal in HV71 Jonkoping’s 6-3 win over Sodertalje SK;

In the Swiss NLA playoffs, Joren van Pottelberghe served as the back-up in HC Davos’ 5-2 win over EHC Biel-Bienne;

In the OHL, Kaden Fulcher stopped 24 of 28 shots in the Hamilton Bulldogs’ 5-3 loss to Niagara;

Cole Fraser had 2 assists and finished at +1 and Zach Gallant did not play in the Peterborough Petes’ 6-4 loss to Barrie;

Reilly Webb finished at -1 in the Saginaw Spirit’s 5-0 loss to Owen Sound;

In the WHL, Michael Rasmussen scored 2 goals and finished at +1 on 4 shots and a 1-for-2 faceoff record as his Tri-City Americans won 6-2 over the Portland Winterhawks. Dennis Cholowski finished at -1 for Portland, and Rasmussen was named the game’s second star;

In the USHL, Filip Larsson did not play in the Tri-City Storm’s 8-2 loss to Team USA;

And in NCAA playoff hockey, Chase Pearson had 2 shots and a stunning 33-for-46 faceoff record in the University of Maine Black Bears’ season-ending 3-2 loss to Providence College;

Jack Adams didn’t play in the Union College Dutchmen’s 3-2 loss to Princeton;

Kasper Kotkansalo had 1 shot in the Boston University Terriers’ 2-1 win over UConn. Boston University will advance to play Boston College in the Hockey East semifinal on March 16th;

Keith Petruzzelli stopped 13 of 15 shots as his Quinnipiac Bobcats lost 2-0 to Cornell, ending Quinnipiac’s season;

And David Pope had an assist and 4 shots, finishing at +1 in the University of Nebraska-Omaha’s season-ending 4-3 OT loss to North Dakota. Pope will probably sign an amateur try-out with the Griffins over the next week or two (assuming he doesn’t stay in school till graduation).