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MacIntyre, Moose Hold Off Depleted Griffins Lineup
Lemieux scores only Griffins goal in loss...
By Jason Kasiorek
www.griffinscentral.com
Former Griffin Drew MacIntyre continued his dominance over his former team, picking up a 4-1 win over the Griffins. Grand Rapids was dressing a patched together lineup, especially on defense, with several key members in Detroit. Newcomer Francis Lemieux scored his second goal in 4 games as a Griffin, and the home team had several great chances, but didn't have the horses to convert them. Adam Berkhoel made 29 saves in a solid, but losing effort.
Only one of the two two teams was ready to start the game, and it was very apparent as the Griffins were flat. Manitoba took control of the game and outworked the Griffins in all aspects of the game. Only some strong play early by netminder Adam Berkhoel kept the Griffins in this one. Manitoba finally got the first goal 14 minutes into the game when Heshka snapped a bullet from the slot, through traffic, past Berkhoel, stick side. A minute later McCarty dropped the gloves with Moose scrapper Zack Fitzgerald, landing several solid shots and just missing with a haymaker at the end that would have taken Fitzgerald's head off. Shots on Goal: GR 7 - Man 13.
Rypien increased the Moose lead to 2-0 early in the second when he put a fake on Stafford and walked in alone on goal for easy powerplay marker. Tardif looked to have gotten the Griffins on the board in the second half of the period, but the light never went on, and it was ruled no goal. Grand Rapids stepped up and began to outplay the Moose in the second period, becoming more dominant with the puck as the stanza went on. Shots on Goal: GR 17 - Man 10.
Lemieux broke the goose egg in the third, just past the 13 minute mark when he snapped a shot from the right wings boards that beat MacIntyre. Despite several great chances, the Griffins couldn't get the equalizer. Berkhoel to the bench with just over a minute left for the extra attacker. The griffins made a bad play, trying to force the puck up the boards instead of taking advantage of the open ice and extra man by passing it out. Rypien took it off the boards and chipped it to Bolduc who went in and scored an empty netter netter to make it 3-1. Thirty seconds later Brown would add another empty netter, effectively capping this game as a 4-1 loss. Shots on goal: GR 18 - Man 10. For the Game: GR 42 - Man 33.
Lines:
Ritola - Oulahen - McCarty
Helm - Cullen - Corazzini/Tardif
Tardif/Corazzini - McGrath - Lemieux
Tardif/Oulahen - Redenbach - Gelech
Pairings:
Insana - Jozsa #10
Stafford - Kindl
Kinley - Galvin
Starter: Berkhoel
Backup: Turple #1
Scratches:
Ference - wrist
PP:
Helm - Cullen - Corazzini
Stafford - Kindl
Oulahen - McGrath - McCarty
Stafford - Jozsa
PK:
Corazzini - Cullen
Stafford - Insana
Oulahen - Tardif
Observations:
Mattias Ritola had a very strong game despite not showing up on the scoresheet. He was very noticeable on the forecheck and broke up a lot of plays through the neutral zone.
Francis Lemieux showed a lot of hustle and was rewarded for his hard work with a goal. He certainly is growing on me, and is hard to see why he wasn't given more of a chance in Hamilton.
Tardif had another solid outing, playing hard and fearlessly going to the net. He paid the price several times last night but produced a team high 6 shots on goal.
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