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Stars Rookie Stops Griffins Rally Short 4-3
Texas netminder Beskorowany makes 44 saves for first win...
By Jason Kasiorek
www.griffinscentral.com
December, 10th, 2010
A disastrous first period combined with a red hot rookie goalie led to a frustrating 4-3 home ice loss for the Griffins. Tyler Beskorowany faced 47 Grand Rapids shots, but stopped enough of them (44) to earn his first AHL win. Brendan Smith (7) scored shorthanded, while Jamie Johnson (2) and Ilari Filppula (10) had powerplay tallies in the loss. Joey MacDonald was roughed up for 3 goals in the first before settling down in the second period, he ended the night with 20 saves.
Things went south for the Griffins early when a turnover led to a Stars' breakaway. MacDonald made a great defensive play to poke the puck away, but somehow a penalty shot was awarded. GR dodged a bullet however as Morin shot in on net, deked MacDonald and rang a shot off the post, through the crease, and out the other side. Backman made it 1-0 a minutes later when he snapped a shot past MacDonald from right in front. Grand rapids continued to dig themselves deeper after Tousignant scored to make it 2-0. Tardif had a great chance, stroking a shot from the slot that Beskorowany just got a piece of. Than the puck was redirected through a forest of bodies and slid past MacDonald to make it 3-0. Shots on Goal: GR 16 - Tex 12.
Great shorthanded chance early in the second by Filppula and mursak. Texas made it 4-0 shortly thereafter when Rallo snuck a puck shortside between MacDonald and the post for a powerplay marker. Smith finally got Grand Rapids on the board about 12 minutes into the period when he took a beautiful pass as he crossed the blueline, accelerated away from the Stars at the line and crashed the net, scoring a shorthanded goal. Sawada tried to get at meech setting off a scrum to the side of the Grand Rapids net. Meech came it of the box and smoked a Texas player, setting up a Pare breakaway that he just missed scoring on. Johnson cut the lead to two when his weak shot on net found it's way through Beskorowany for a powerplay goal. Shots on Goal: GR 13 - Tex 7.
Grand Rapids threw everything but the kitchen sink at the stars net in the 3rd but Beskorowany stood tall. A pretty give and go play between Tardif and Smith may have been one the best chances of the game, but ended up being shot over the net. A late interference penalty to Kindl killed the dwindling chances of a comeback. With less than a minute left, a diving play by smith kept the puck in and got it to Tatar who hit Filppula streaking in for a power play goal to cut the lead to one. That was as close as they would get, falling 4-3. Shots on goal: GR 18 - Tex 5. For the Game: GR 47 - Tex 24.
Lines:
Minard - Johnson - Filppula
Tatar - Tardif - Mursak
Owens - Pare - Coetzee
Andersson - Raedeke - Mursak/Pare
Pairings:
Meech - Ehrhardt/Smith
Janik - Amadio/Kindl
Ehrhardt - Pyett
Starter: MacDonald
Backup: McCollum
Scratches:
Emmerton - Injury
Lashoff
Kolosov
Straub
PP:
Minard - Johnson - Filppula
Meech - Pare
Tatar - Tardif - Mursakn
Kindl - Smith
PK:
Raedeke/Tatar - Andersson
Meech - Ehrhardt/Smith
Mursak - Filppula
Janik - Kindl
Observations:
If they would have played the first half of the game the way they played the last half, they probably would have pulled one out. Give some credit Beskorowany who had a good night in the net, but he was spotted a 4-0 lead.
Frankie Pare was on fire and noticeable all game. The official score sheet credits him with 10 shots on goal, but he probably had closer to 15. He was dangerous and engaged, and seemed to ave the puck on his stick all night. He was very effective rushing the puck and using his speed to take it to the net and create scoring chances.
Ehrhardt had antihero strong game, using his physical play along the boards to win a lot of battles. He seems to get stronger every game.
Smith jumped up into the play a lot and displayed some very good moves and hands around the net. It is easy to see that he has spent some time playing forward in his career. his short handed goal was beautiful.
Logan Pyett also rebounded with a good game, and did a good job defensively around his net. If he could just play well at both ends in the same game, he would be on track.
The last two games it looks like Minard and Johnson are starting to get untracked which can only be a plus for this team.
The line with Tatar, Tardif and Mursak was very effective and generated a several good chances.
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