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Tatar Leads Griffins Over Amerks 3-1
Second year sniper scores two goals in win...
By Jason Kasiorek
www.griffinscentral.com
March, 19th, 2011
Grand Rapids rebounded from the 7-2 shellacking that Lake Erie put on them yesterday night to turn in a dominate performance over the Rochester Americans. The team fired 24 shots on netminder Tyler Plante in the first period alone, taking a two goal leads on markers by Tatar (20) and Minard (17). Tatar later added an empty netter to seal the deal late in third to give the Griffins a badly needed 3-1 win. Jordan Pearce just missed the shutout, giving up a goal midway through the third, but made 25 saves to record his 18th win of the season.
The griffins were determined to get off to a better start tonight and it was apparent from the opening face-off. Tatar scored early, notching his 20th of the season to give his team a 1-0 lead. Andersson lifted a stick in the defensive zone and started a 3-on-1 the other way. Good scoring chance but Plante kept it out. Great chance by Johnson shorthanded on a sick feed from Mursak. Later on the powerplay, Emmerton fired a shot from out by the line that was tipped in front by Minard for a 2-0 lead. Shots on goal: GR 24 - Roc 8.
Kolosov stunned an Amerks player along the boards with a big hit and then was attacked by Jessiman. Kolosov tried to cover up, but Jessiman would not stop and ended up with 12 extra minutes in penalties. Mursak used a sick burst of speed to win the race to an errant puck and turn it onto a dangerous scoring chance. Shots on goal: GR 4 - Roc 6.
Tardif got behind the defense, beat Plante and rang the shot off the post. Rochester got a lucky break halfway through the period when Thomas swept the puck at the net and it pinballed before trickling in. Plante went to the bench with 1:20 left on the clock for the extra attacker. Tardif made a nice play to Tatar who hit the empty net with 9.1 seconds left on the clock to ice the win 3-1. Shots on Goal: GR 8 - Roc 12. For the Game: GR 36 - Roc 26.
Lines:
Tatar - Filppula - Tardif
Andersson - Emmerton - Pare
Minard - Johnson - Mursak
Straub - Raedeke - Keefe
Pairings:
Janik - Pyett
Kolosov - Ehrhardt
Meech - Amadio
Starter: Pearce
Backup: #34 Brown
Scratches:
Smith - Knee
Owens - broken arm
Lashoff
PP:
Minard - Emmerton - Mursak
Johnson - Smith
Tatar - Filppula - Tardif
Pare - Meech/Pyett
PK:
Emmerton - Mursak
Kolosov - Meech
Andersson - Tardif/Johnson
Janik - Pyett
Observations:
The Griffins did a great job of dominating the game in the first period before settling back into a defensive shell and making things interesting towards the end. A much better effort than yesterday.
I also wanted to give credit where credit was do specifically to Chris Minard and Jamie Johnson who both had super slow starts, but have become vital cogs n the offense the last dozen games or so. Tonight they were both among the better Griffins on the ice.
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