GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins did what they needed to do in Milwaukee. With a split on the road, they wrestled home-ice advantage away from the Admirals. The hope was that the hometown team could take advantage of the friendly confines and spring forward with that momentum.
Unfortunately for the Griffins, Game Three ended up being another story of resiliency for this team without a happy ending. Despite battling back from a horrid start, the Griffins just couldn’t generate enough. They lose Game Three by the final of 3-2 in overtime and now face elimination down two games to one in the Central Division Finals.
Spinning Tires
Despite having all the advantages of home-ice, from last change to the hometown fans, the Griffins came out with cinderblocks tied to their skates. An early power play did nothing but add to a historic run of ineffectiveness. Milwaukee took the momentum early and put the Griffins in a chokehold. There was no room for Grand Rapids.
Moreover, the Griffins’ forecheck was made wholly ineffective by Milwaukee’s quick zone exits. Grand Rapids’ dump-and-chase tactic only works when the forecheckers get home and on top of the defense. For the first half of the game, they went nowhere. The Admirals’ defenders were able to chip the puck into soft zones where Grand Rapids had no pressure coming. This resulted in relatively easy exits and transitions into the attack.
After hammering away at Sebastian Cossa for over 20 minutes, Egor Afanasyev got the party going for Milwaukee. His shot from the high slot was stopped by Cossa, but the Admiral forward kept his feet moving amidst a sea of Griffins that watched the play happen. Afanasyev got his own rebound and shoveled the second chance far side to put the visitors up 1-0.
Penalty Trouble
While the Griffins were able to draw even on one of their few extended possessions in the Milwaukee zone, those opportunities were few and far in between. William Wallinder‘s tying tally lasted for only a few minutes. In the second period, Grand Rapids led a steady parade to the penalty box. While the Admirals could do so without fear of a power play goal against, the Griffins could ill-afford to put a potent Milwaukee unit on the ice against.
It was Afanasyev again with the chance on a 5-on-3 to put the Admirals back into the lead. As if it wasn’t difficult enough for the Griffins to generate offense, handing five power play opportunities to Milwaukee over the first two periods was a recipe for disaster. In fact, for the first 30 minutes of play the Griffins managed just four shots on Yaroslav Askarov.
Facing a disparity of 21-11 (which felt generous from the scorekeepers) in the shots, Grand Rapids headed to the third down only one goal. Still, it may as well have been a mountain the way the Griffins showed up the first 40 minutes.
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Someone either must’ve given the Griffins that stuff from Michael Jordan’s water bottle in Space Jam, or the teams switched jerseys in the second intermission. Either way, the Griffins came out with a purpose for the third period.
Just over five minutes in, Wallinder hit Austin Czarnik in the slot for a glorious chance on Askarov. The initial shot went wide, but Czarnik chased the rebound down and banked it in off the Admirals’ goaltender for the tying goal.
From there, the Griffins went to work. They smelled the blood in the water and attacked. Dominik Shine rolled up the sleeves and put in the work in front and behind the net to dig pucks out – something that was sorely missing in the Griffins’ game for two periods of play.
There was a wholly different energy to the game in the third. The Griffins played with pace, urgency, and consistently challenged Askarov on quality chances from the doorstep. Milwaukee’s goaltender – nearly lulled to sleep after 40 minutes – suddenly found himself fighting for his life in the visitor’s crease.
Despite the late push, the score remained tied when the buzzer hit zero. The Griffins, no strangers to overtime, would have to do it again to take the advantage in this series.
Egoat
It wasn’t meant to be for the home team, and it was done in one of the more painful ways it could happen this time of year. Afanasyev, one of the hottest players on the ice all series, put a shot on net that hit Griffins’ defender Antti Tuomisto. It looked as harmless as ever from the top of the circle, but the shot bounced off Tuomisto’s leg and past Cossa to stun the hometown crowd.
The man affectionately referred to as “Egoat” by the Admirals’ faithful had all three goals in this one for Milwaukee. When you’re on a heater, they all just seem to go in from any and every way.
Just like that, the air was deflated out of Van Andel Arena and a comeback attempt gets snuffed out in a 3-2 overtime loss for Grand Rapids. Their season now hangs in the balance down 2-1 in this best-of-five series.
Takeaways
- You can’t spot a team like Milwaukee a 40 minute advantage and expect to come out with a W. The Griffins, for all intents and purposes, were lucky they managed to get this one to overtime. Those first 40 minutes were atrocious. It’s one thing to be resilient and to battle back as this team has done all season. It’s another to get completely dog walked for two periods and be surprised when it becomes too little, too late.
- Simon Edvinsson misses two games with an injury and the Griffins lose two. That’s not a coincidence. Edvinsson is the proverbial monster on the blue line for Grand Rapids. He eats massive minutes and plays top unit on all special teams. His ability to skate the puck up changes the way this team plays in transition. It’s also no coincidence this team struggles to generate an attack with that massive gap in the lineup. The speculation is that he’ll be ready for Game Four. The Griffins need Edvinsson to have a chance at a comeback in this series.
- Nate Danielson is still adjusting. It’s a tough assignment to throw a 19-year old coming off a brutal run through the Western Hockey League right into AHL playoff action. Not only that, but he’s going against a very tough Milwaukee team with just a handful of practices under his belt with his new teammates. It can be easy to blast someone that has a high draft pedigree for not coming in and being Wayne Gretzky immediately, but remember Marco Kasper‘s early season struggles compared to his play this postseason. Maybe pump the brakes on the criticism for the rookie in this series.
- What can Grand Rapids do to come back in this one? We can keep harping on the power play but it’s all copy-and-paste at this point. This team needs to keep it even strength. Stay out of the box and keep Cossa’s lanes clear. Beyond that, there were clear adjustments made in the third that made the Griffins’ entries and forechecking more effective. This team has dug themselves out of a hole all year long, and this is the biggest one they’ve been in all season. Time to roll up the sleeves and get to work.
