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Monsters Maul Griffins 4-0
Home team coasts through thrashing...
By Jason Kasiorek
www.griffinscentral.com
February 5th, 2014
The Lake Erie Monsters took advantage of a slumbering Griffins team to post a 4-0 victory in the cozy confines of Van Andel Arena. For the second straight home game, Grand Rapids appeared to spend most of the night in neutral. They posting just 19 shots on goal, the lowest total since Coach Blashill took over at the beginning of last season. Petr Mrazek was tagged with the loss, making 23 stops, but did not get much help from the guys in front of him. Louis-Marc Aubry accounted for a quarter of the teams shots with 5.
The Griffins came out without a lot jump for the second straight home game. Hoggan collided with Tootoo in open ice, but managed to stay on his feet. The Monsters opened the scoring on a quick play right off the face off. Beaupre fired a shot from the point that beat Mrazek right over the leg pad stick-side. Frk had a great rip from the circle on the powerplay, but hit the netminder. The Griffins let a couple of consecutive powerplays go by the wayside as they were guilty of being too fancy and not generating shots. Shots on Goal: GR 8 - LE 8.
Grand Rapids started the second with more intensity, but it was shortlived. Siemens made it 2-0 when his blast from the slot beat a screened Mrazek stick side. Beau ore high-sticked Jarnkrok and Parkes went right over and smoked him into the boards. Hoggan blocked a shot in the slot and sent the puck ahead for Emmerton for a breakwaway, but he over-skated the puck. Evans great job on the PK blocking shots and using his reach to poke the puck away. Meurs all alone in front with three Griffins behind the net. He picked up the puck in the paint and lifted it in for his 4th of the season. Evans knocked Smith on his butt in front, setting off a scrum that saw Aubry and Maggio square off. Later in the period, Olver went after Paetsch, and the Griffins veteran worked him over a bit before the officials intervened. Shots on Goal: GR 3 - LE 13.
Emmerton made a couple of great moves shorthanded to try and make something happen, but should have used Ferraro coming late. Lake Erie had a shorthanded 2-on-1, but missed the net. Agozzino hit Smith with a perfect pass as he streaked up the slot and he buried it for a 4-0 lead.Frk had a brutal giveaway right in front, but Mrazek made the save. Shots on Goal: GR 8 - LE 6. For the Game: GR 19 - Chi 27.
Lines:
Hoggan/Frk - Nestrasil - Tootoo/Aubry
Callahan - Jarnkork - Pulkkinen
Frk/Hoggan - Emmerton - Ferraro
Parkes - McIntyre - Aubry/Pulkkinen
Pairings:
Evans - Sproul
Paetsch - Marchenko
Ouellet - Almquist
Starter: Mrazek
Backup: McCollum
Scratches:
Samuelsson
Grant
Fournier
Jensen
PP:
Callahan - Jarnkrok - Frk
Pulkkinen - Almquist
Emmerton - Nestrasil - Ferraro
Sproul - Paetsch
PK:
Callahan - Jarnkrok
Evans - Marchenko
Emmerton - Ferraro
Paetsch - Marchenko/Ouellet
Observations:
Tough to single anybody out with as flat a team effort as we saw tonight. No jump or energy tonight. Very surprising as Hoggan was back in the lineup, and the team usually gets a boost from that.
Parkes was very active on the forecheck, knocking pucks loose and hitting everything in a white jersey. He gave a little punishment out sticking up for Jarnkrok, and looked pretty effective.
Tootoo left the game early and did not return . I didn't see a specific play, but notice him coming to the bench holding his arm the last time I saw him.
Frk has to remember to keep his feet moving, the pace of the game (especially by Grand Rapids) was very slow, and he was chasing the play a lot.
It was a bit telling that Samuelsson was a scratch after really struggling over the weekend. Granted it might take him a while to get up to speed after spending so much time sitting out in Detroit, but he may have reached the end of the line.
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