Prospect round-up: McCollum shuts out Hershey; Walleye lose to Indy; Cholowski 1A, Rasmussen 1G

In the AHL, Matthew Ford and Ben Street (2) scored goals, Matt Puepel had 2 assists and Tom McCollum posted a 21-save shutout as the Grand Rapids Griffins defeated the Hershey Bears 3-0. The Griffins’ website posted a recap:

McCOLLUM EARNS FIRST SHUTOUT OF SEASON WITH 3-0 WIN

GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 3 at Hershey Bears 0

March 11, 2018

HERSHEY, Pa. – Behind a 21-save effort, Tom McCollum produced his first shutout of the season propelling the Grand Rapids Griffins to a 3-0 victory over the Hershey Bears on Sunday afternoon. It was the Griffins’ first trip to the Giant Center since Feb. 26, 2006.

The clean sheet was McCollum’s eighth career shutout as a Griffin. He passes Petr Mrazek for sole possession of sixth place all-time on the shutout list in franchise history. His last shutout occurred on March 21, 2017 against the Iowa Wild as a member of the Charlotte Checkers.

The Griffins (32-22-1-6) are back in action on Wednesday, March 14 at 7 p.m. against the Iowa Wild from Van Andel Arena.

Matthew Ford put Grand Rapids on the board first with a power play goal at the 12:16 mark of the opening period. The captain was tussling for a rebound with a defender when he took a quick wrist shot from the left circle. Goaltender Pheonix Copley was caught off guard as the puck sailed past his right arm for the 1-0 lead.

Nearly two minutes later, Ben Street added an insurance goal from a rebound off of a Matt Puempel shot. Eric Tangradi made a centering pass to Puempel from behind the net which led to the opportunity. Street was standing near the right post when the puck fell into the crease and he hammered it into the net.

Each team had at least one power play opportunity in the second frame, but neither team was successful. The Bears (25-29-4-5) accrued two man-advantages thanks to penalties from Ford and Axel Holmstrom.

Six minutes into the final stanza, Street lit the lamp up again. He was assisted again by Puempel who forced a turnover in the Hershey zone behind the net. After Puempel collected the puck, he made a quick pass to Street who sent a laser over Copley’s glove for the 3-goal decision.

McCollum finished with 21 saves to bring his record to 11-11-3, while Copley stopped 20 shots to bring his record to 13-15-6-4.

The Griffins finished 1-for-5 on the power play, while the Bears went 0-for-5 with the man advantage.

Three Stars: 1. GR Street (two goals); 2. GR Puempel (two assists); 3. GR McCollum (W, 21 saves, SO)

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

In the ECHL, the Toledo Walleye had a rough Sunday night, surrendering 7 goals en route to a 7-4 loss to the Indy Fuel. Tyler Barnes (2), Zach Nastasiuk and Christian Hilbrich scored goals for Toledo and Angus Redmond and Pat Nagle split time in the crease, surrendering 5 and 1 goals, respectively.

The Walleye’s website posted a recap:

Walleye comeback falls short against Fuel

(Toledo, OH) – The Walleye fell to the Fuel 7-4 on Sunday evening in Toledo. Tyler Barnes scored twice, and the Walleye record 16 game home unbeaten streak is snapped. The Walleye are 42-15-3-2 on the season and 26-5-1-0 at home. The crowd of 7,453 was good for our 24th sellout this season, continuing to help our record grow.

Indy took a 1-0 lead with a rebound that beat Walleye starting goaltender, Angus Redmond at 7:27 of the first period. The Fuel would find the back of the net to extend their lead to 2-0 at 15:05 of the frame.

The Fuel scored twice in the first 2:16 of the second period to make it 4-0.  After a Toledo time-out, Tyler Barnes would carry the puck into the Indy zone and find the back of the net at 2:40 to cut the lead to 4-1. Zach Nastasiuk went top-shelf on the power play at 5:52 to make it 4-2. Indy would regain a three-goal lead at 6:35. Pat Nagle would come in at 6:35 to replace Redmond, stopping 16 of 17 shots faced. Indy made it a 6-2 game at 9:17. Barnes went backhand to score his second of the game at 13:03 to cut the lead to 6-3 going to the third period.

Christian Hilbrich pulled the Walleye to within two at 12:24 of the final period to make the score 6-4. Despite numerous scoring chances, and a season-high 46 shots on goal, Toledo was held at bay the rest of the day. Indy would seal the deal with an empty net goal at 19:47 to give the final score of 7-4.

Fish Tales:

  • The Walleye are in Quad City on Wednesday for a 7:35 p.m. puck drop against the Mallards. The team returns home on Saturday, March 24th for a 7:15 p.m. puck drop against Brampton.

  • Redmond stopped 14 of 19 shots and is now 3-9-2-1 on the season.

  • Simon Denis is on a nine-game point streak with 13 points (1G, 12A). He has an assist in each of the past nine games, which ties the record set by Shane Berschbach, set from March 27, 2015 until the end of the 2014-15 regular season.

  • Mike Borkowski has six points in his past four games (3G, 3A).

  • Tyler Barnes has six points in his past three games (3G, 3A).

  • The 46 shots for the Walleye tonight was a season-high.

The Walleye also posted a highlight clip:

Elsewhere, in the Swedish J20 league, Alfons Malmstrom played on the third defensive pair in HV71 Jonkoping’s 4-3 OT loss to Linkopings HC;

In the OHL, Givani Smith finished even with 1 shot in the Kitchener Rangers’ 3-2 win over the Saginaw Spirit. Reilly Webb finished even with 2 shots for Saginaw;

Jordan Sambrook finished at +1 in the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds’ 6-5 shootout loss to Owen Sound;

Cole Fraser finished at -2 with 7 penalty minutes (a fight and a “check to the head” penalty) in the Peterborough Petes’ 4-0 loss to Sudbury;

Kaden Fulcher stopped 13 of 14 shots in mop-up duty as the Hamilton Bulldogs won 6-4 over the Oshawa Generals;

In the WHL, Lane Zablocki finished at -1 on 3 shots and 6 PIM in the Victoria Royals’ 4-3 win over Prince George;

Dennis Cholowski had an assist, finishing at +1 with 1 shot in the Portland Winterhawks’ 2-0 win over Everett;

Michael Rasmussen scored a goal, finishing at +3 with 5 shots and a 4-for-7 faceoff record in the Tri-City Americans’ 4-3 win over Vancouver;

And in the USHL, Filip Larsson did not dress for the Tri-City Storm’s 9-5 loss to Team USA.

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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, when MLive hired me to work their SlapShots blog, and I joined Kukla's Korner in 2011 as The Malik Report. I'm starting The Malik Report as a stand-alone site, hoping that having my readers fund the website is indeed the way to go to build a better community and create better content.