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Griffins Hold On To Down Admirals 3-2
Griffins offense ignites for rare home winÉ
By Jason Kasiorek
www.griffinscentral.com
December, 8th, 2010

Captain Jamie Tardif opened the scoring to say enough was enough and lead his team over the Milwaukee Admirals. Chris Minard broke out of a season long slump to score his third of the campaign, and Jan Mursak iced the game with a tremendous individual effort. The Griffins won for just the first time in their last 8 games on home ice. Joey MacDonald made 17 saves in picking up the win.

Tardif got things started early in the first, notching a powerplay goal. Grand Rapids is controlling play as the Admirals have not gotten a shot on goal for the first half of the period. Unfortunately the Ads first shot at the 11:55 mark was a breakaway by Thang that he got by MacDonald while he was in motion to knot the score at one. Lots of physical activity as the period winds down with some big scrums in front of the GR net. Shots on Goal: GR 11 - Mil 5.

A big scrum along the boards left Owens in the box for a Milwaukee Powerplay. The penalty kill was up to the task and GR escaped unscathed. Minard took a great cross ice feed from Johnson on the rush and one-timed it past Smith for a 2-1 lead. Shots on Goal: GR 8 - Mil 4.

Mursak made it 3-1 on the breakaway when he skated through a wicked slash, dipped a shoulder, and ripped a shot in over Smith for a highlight reel goal. The Griffins got tangled up in their own zone for a couple of shifts, the first sustained pressure by Milwaukee of the game. Laakso cranked a shot from the point over a diving Owens and off the bar behind Mac for a powerplay goal. Joey made a great stop on what looked to be a game tying goal with two and a half minutes left on the clock. Smith to the bench for the extra attacker to set up an exciting finish and finally a Griffins win! Shots on goal: GR 4 - Mil 10. For the Game: GR 23 - Mil 19.

Lines:
Tatar - Tardif - Mursak
Owens - Pare - Coetzee
Minard - Johnson - Filppula
Andersson - Raedeke - Mursak

Pairings:
Kindl - Pyett
Smith - Ehrhardt
Amadio - Janik
Meech

Starter: MacDonald
Backup: McCollum

Scratches:
Emmerton - Knee Straub - Injury Lashoff - Injury Meech - Injury Kolosov - Scratch

PP:
Tatar - Tardif - Pare
Meech - Smith

Minard - Johnson - Pare/Filppula
Meech - Kindl

PK:
Tardif - Andersson
Ehrhardt/Kindl - Janik

Mursak - Filppula
Smith - Pyett

Raedeke - Owens

Observations:

Nice to get the monkey off our back and get a win. Hopefully we can get a couple now that the pressure is off.


Official Game Sheet