The Grand Rapids Griffins prevailed in a 10-round shootout, winning 3-2 over the Milwaukee Admirals on Friday night. Here’s the Griffins’ recap:
GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 3 vs. Milwaukee Admirals 2 (SO)
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — In the 10th round of the shootout, Cross Hanas sealed a 3-2 victory for the Grand Rapids Griffins against the Milwaukee Admirals on Friday at Van Andel Arena in a battle between the top two teams in the Central Division.
The Griffins claimed their second shootout win of the season, their first coming on Oct. 27 against Lehigh Valley when they prevailed 4-3. Amadeus Lombardi tallied his 13th point in the last 13 games (7-6—13) and extended his point streak to three (3-1—4). Austin Watson scored his second power-play goal of the year while Tim Gettinger skated in his first game for the Griffins this season and cashed in during the shootout. Sebastian Cossa earned his eighth win of the campaign (8-4-1-0) and turned away 25 shots alongside eight in the shootout.
Neither team scored in the first period, however, the Admirals struck first when Jake Livingstone gave Milwaukee a 1-0 lead just 1:15 into the second frame. Sheldon Dries broke away from the Milwaukee defense with 3:49 remaining in the period but couldn’t find the back of the net.
A 5-on-3 man-advantage in the final period paved the way for the Griffins’ first tally at 7:30, courtesy of Watson. Nate Danielson fired a pass to Watson outside the left circle and he lit the lamp for the power-play goal. With 2:56 remaining, Ryder Rolston gave the Admirals the lead. Grand Rapids pulled Cossa at 18:52 and Lombardi buried his ninth goal of the year with 51 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.
The Griffins began the overtime period short handed but killed off the penalty and turned away all of the Admirals’ shot attempts to extend the game to a shootout. Lombardi gave the Griffins an early lead in the shootout, but the Admirals followed with a tally from Jake Lucchini to even the score through the first three attempts for both teams. In the eighth round, Gettinger buried the chance to put Grand Rapids back in front before Milwaukee followed up with their own goal from Cal O’Reilly. In the 10th round, Hanas found the back of the net and Cossa made the final save to seal the 3-2 victory.
The Griffins also posted a photo gallery, a set of highlights and a set of post-game interviews:
