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Griffins Can't Contain Cannone In 4-3 Loss to Wolves
Home winning streak ends at 14...
By Jason Kasiorek
www.griffinscentral.com
January 17th 2016
The Van Andel Arena crowd witnessed it's first loss since November 6th as the Grand Rapids Griffins dropped a 4-3 contest to the Chicago Wolves in overtime. Special teams was the main culprit as the Wolves Pat Cannone scored a pair of powerplay tallies and a shorthanded goal to lead his team. Grand Rapids got goals from AJ Jenks (2), Andy Miele (8) and Tomas Nosek (4). Jared Coreau was solid in his bid for his 20th win, making 33 stops in a losing effort.
Grand Rapids off to a slow start, not a lot of jump early. They found a little life about halfway through the period, after a dominant penalty kill that was mostly spent at the other end of the ice. Campbell came out of the box and the Griffins had a quality scoring chance as they kept the pressure up. Grand Rapids got on the board late in the first getting some help from the surprisingly potent AJ Jenks who scored his second goal in 4 games. Nastasiuk with some nice work to get the puck into the slot and then Jenks in front shoveled the rebound past Copley to open the scoring. The lead was short lived however, as Kindl turned the puck over on the power play and Cannone took advantage, ripping a short handed shot in over Coreau, high, stick-side. Shots on goal: GR 5 - Chi 9.
Miele in alone on Copley and lifted the puck over his shoulder glove side for a 2-1 lead early in the second. Frk, last man back, turned over the puck and the chase was on as he interfered with Asuchak just enough to stop him from getting a good shot off, but not enough to take a penalty. Nice play by Bertuzzi at the line to pick off a clearing attempt and turn it into a scoring chance. Lindbohm crossed the line with speed and fired a laser shot that just clinked in under the crossbar to knot the score at 2. Grand Rapids really pressuring the net with the Aubry line generating close in scoring chances. Nightingale grabbed Aubry in front of Copley and dropped the gloves, but nothing came of it. Bertuzzi with a great chance in front through traffic after coming late. Mantha with a dangerous shot and then Tangradi just missed steering the rebound in. Paetsch blocked a shot and was hobbling, but stayed in the play to clear the puck. Huge stop by Coreau point blank. Shots on goal: GR 11 - Chi 14.
Coreau screened and Cannone got a shot through him to give the Wolves their first lead of the game. Two Wolves were in front of him and he didn't react like he saw the shot. Nosek carried the puck around the net, curled out and fired it over Copley from a bad angle to tie the score at 3. Aubry great with a great steal, passed to himself off the boards to beat the defenseman and then almost snuck a shot through five-hole. The puck took a weird bounce off the end boards from a Jensen shot, and Copley had to scramble to get back and keep it out. Grand Rapids got a late powerplay that turned into a five-on-three after Chouinard appeared to close his hand on the puck. Unfortunately the griffins turned in a brutal powerplay with almost no quality chances. Sproul hurt in the corner then limped off slowly behind the play. Shots on goal: GR 9 - Chi 9.
Tangradi got sent to the box for hooking leaving the Griffins shorthanded in overtime. Cannone completed the hat trick two and a half minutes into overtime when he fired a bad angle shot that crawled up his arm and into the net for a powerplay goal. Shots on goal: GR 0 - Chi 5. For the Game: GR 25 - Chi 37.
Lines:
Bertuzzi - Miele - Frk
Tangradi - Zengerle - Mantha
Hoggan - Nosek- Campbell
Jenks - Aubry - Nastasiuk
Pairings:
Paetsch - Jensen
Russo - Kindl
Lashoff - Sproul
Starter: Coreau
Backup: Patterson
Scratches:
#11 Cleary - Lower Body Injury
#12 Athanasiou - Injury
#15 Callahan - Broken Jaw
#16 Ouellet - Injury
#23 Grant - Injury
#30 McCollum - Toledo
#32 Hirschfeld - Seizure
#44 Rechlicz
PP:
Tangradi- Miele - Zengerle
Kindl - Mantha
Frk - Nosek- Bertuzzi
Sproul - Russo
PK:
Miele - Tangradi
Paetsch - Jensen
Nosek - Aubry
Lashoff - Kindl
Observations:
Tough loss for the Griffins to end their 14 game winning streak. They should have able to take advantage of a decimated Wolves lineup, including 3 of the 6 defenseman who were playing for Toledo (ECHL) last week. But give the Wolves credit, they battled hard and brought more energy then the Griffins did. They deserved the win.
Winger AJ Jenks has really surprised with his level of play. He has scored a pair of goals and an assist in 4 games this season, but has provided grit and energy that has missing from the lineup. He is along the same lines as a Trevor Parkes type of player, but if he keeps this level of play, he may stay longer then expected. He also showed off some great chemistry with Nastasiuk, and has elevated his level of play as well.
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